ABSTRACT
A huge amount of progress has been made in improving housing conditions since the mid-1800s, but there is still a long way to go. Many people still live in unsatisfactory or unfit housing, affecting their access to local amenities and community, whilst others have no home at all. Government ideology and funding opportunities have played a key role in housing provision and rehabilitation policies over this period, with capital funding providing the optimum way to provide and maintain decent housing, particularly to low-income groups. The rise and fall of the private rented sector has attracted controversy, but the main political parties are increasingly looking to this sector to meet the housing need, together with the opportunities and threats, which that sector provides. Many involved in enforcing conditions in the private sector will have their own views on the potential of the bottom end of the sector to meet the low-cost need to vulnerable groups.
