ABSTRACT
New methods of building, the use of the Office of Works and direct labour, and the involvement of private builders in the housing campaign were the most conspicuous of these expedients. In general, the Cabinet declined to give resources to housing when to do so would entail the opposition of powerful interest groups. Among a number of possible remedies the Cabinet reconsidered the question of building controls. In November 1919, faced with what was alleged to be the virtual breakdown of the housing programme, the Cabinet in effect reaffirmed its decision that building labour and materials were not to be transferred to house-building at the expense of other types of building activity. In the autumn of 1920, however, with the collapse of the post-war boom and with it of the power of labour, the balance of political forces was transformed.
