ABSTRACT
At first sight there are considerable similarities between British and American private sector housing. In both countries owner occupied housing dominates the private market, and much of this consists of single family detached or semi-detached dwellings. A general difference concerns the quality and quantity of private rental housing. In 1972, only 18 per cent of all households in Britain rented privately compared with 36 per cent in the US. The British private rental sector figure was as high as 61 per cent in 1947, the precipitous decline since that year being a result of government policies favouring owner-occupied and public sector housing. Given the nature of the 1968 Act, it is perhaps not surprising that between 1968 and 1976, the law was judged to have made very little impact on discrimination and disadvantage in housing. The experience of the Race Relations Board’s complaint procedure is, in fact, very similar to that of many American civil rights commissions administering similar laws.
