The Eclipse of Council Housing

Ian Cole, Robert Furbey

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English

Routledge
18 November 2025

Homelessness; Sociology; Human geography; Urban & municipal planning

Series: Routledge Library Editions: Housing

In the 1990s, council housing was widely criticised, rejected by government and was the object of waning public support. Yet at one time direct state provision accounted for one-third of the nation's housing stock. How did this decline come about? Originally published in 1994, Ian Cole and Robert Furbey trace the emergence, rise and decline of council housing and explore its fluctuating status within the welfare state.

The authors ask whether council tenure was misconceived from the start and whether it should now be seen as a suitable case for reform, or for total abolition. They examine why, of all welfare sectors, public housing has been subjected to the most intense attack by the Conservatives since 1979, and consider why it has proved so vulnerable. Their detailed analysis charts the development of policies towards council housing and the long-term retreat into a residual tenure. A distinctive aspect of the account is its analysis of the quality of housing offered by local authorities, and the responsiveness, democracy and efficiency of housing management. Particular emphasis is given to the deal which users have received from local authorities and their varying responses to that deal. The authors also review New Right arguments for the final eclipse of state housing while at the same time discussing initiatives to reform it.

The Eclipse of Council Housing presents a lucid study of a key social policy issue which was central to the housing crisis at the time, and challenges the view that council housing should be consigned to the scrapheap. It will be invaluable to all students and lecturers in social policy, housing, town planning and urban studies, as well as social policy and housing professionals.

By: Ian Cole, Robert Furbey
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 216mm, Width: 138mm,
ISBN: 9781041134145
ISBN 10: 1041134142
Series: Routledge Library Editions: Housing
Pages: 282
Publication Date: 18 November 2025
Audience: College/higher education , College/higher education , Adult education , Primary , Primary
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Ian Cole is Emeritus Professor of Housing Studies at Sheffield Hallam University. Ian was Head of Housing and then Director of the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research at Sheffield Hallam University from 1986 to 2010. He has written research reports, published journal articles and directed over forty research projects on issues such as leasehold, welfare reform, neighbourhood regeneration, UK housebuilding and housing market analysis. Ian has given evidence to many major government housing inquiries and was appointed Special Adviser on Housing to the Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Select Committee from 2023 to 2024. Dr Robert Furbey was Principal Lecturer in Urban Sociology and Politics at Sheffield Hallam University until his retirement in 2010. He was co-author of Housing and Urban Spatial Structure (1975). Robert has written academic papers on religion and faith communities in urban regeneration, tenant empowerment and housing professionalisation for major journals including Policy and Politics, Community Development Journal and Housing Theory and Society. Robert played a pioneering role in developing access, undergraduate and postgraduate courses in housing, including the National Certificate in Tenant Participation, and undertook research into participation for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation in the late 1990s.