ABSTRACT
The manpower crisis had nonetheless revealed the differences of approach between the two departments with responsibility for the formulation of policy on pos-twar housing. Until the beginning of November 1918, the pledges made by the government on post-war housing conformed to the views of the Local Government Board (LGB) rather than the Ministry of Reconstruction. With the Armistice of 11 November 1918, however, the position was transformed. Compared to the ends that the housing campaign would serve, cost was irrelevant: for it was believed that, as the Parliamentary Secretary to the LGB put it in April 1919, 'the money we are going to spend on housing is an insurance against Bolshevism and Revolution'. While unwilling to commit resources on any large scale to house-building, the Cabinet responded swiftly to the call for announcements on housing policy. By issuing the circular the War Cabinet complied with the commission's recommendation that it should make some announcement of housing policy.
