ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on social housing and its professional body, the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH), the range of occupational and professional groups that work within the social housing sector is large. The chapter examines three eras of social housing and its professionalisation. Firstly the historical form of organisation and control in social housing and the role and development of the profession. Secondly the Conservative government’s rationalisation of the sector, increased control over stock and management and the growth of the social housing profession during a period of hostility. Thirdly the reform process from the late 1980s onwards which is leading to new forms of organisation and production. The overall impact of the rationalisation process has been to assert the supremacy of the market in co-ordinating public policy, reducing the interventionist powers and service delivery role of local authorities, and privatising provision leading to substantial local-central government conflict.
