ABSTRACT
This chapter examines aspects of the management of the public housing stock. In the field of management, local authorities, as the responsible bodies, are the dominant force and have considerable autonomy from central government and discretionary power over households. Since local conditions, responses, structures and processes may vary, in reviewing the national situation generalisations have to be made whose appropriateness varies from area to area. While most of the information concerns Britain, or England and Wales, throughout it should be borne in mind that at other scales of analysis there are often immense variations from national or aggregate figures. One criticism of the public dwelling stock is that, with the notable exception of short periods following the two world wars, the quality of council dwellings has often been poor. The management of council housing in Britain rests in the hands of local authority housing departments, their associated officials and elected representatives.
