Alternative possibilities to the building of council housing in early twentieth century Scotland.
What is it about?
It is now a century since the beginning of the great ‘social experiment’ that was council housing, a policy often derided by political commentators and historians. Yet, even after the Thatcherite ‘right to buy’ privatisation of the 1980s, today housing remains in crisis. We examine a series of alternative visions of housing – communitarian self-help, municipal improvement, and conservative philanthropy - promoted within the Scottish town of Stirling. In so doing we show why for most Scots needing a family home in the early to mid-twentieth century, council housing was the only option.
Why is it important?
Today a generation is being priced out of the housing market, a ‘market’ that mirrors in many respects that of a hundred years ago. Understanding what housing solutions did and did not work then can help us better understand the problems of today, especially those left renting from private landlords often at exorbitant rents.