ABSTRACT
This book has argued that while the relationship between council tenants and their landlords has changed over recent years, in favour of greater tenant participation, the significance of this should not be exaggerated. Tenant activists rather than tenants generally, in some but not all areas, have been involved; the forms and purposes of participation have varied; some housing issues have been addressed more than others and, while tenant participation appeared to be growing, council housing itself was increasingly stigmatised and seen as a politically weak sector. The aim of this final chapter, therefore, is to consider the implications of the recent experience of tenant participation as outlined in the previous chapters. Key questions to be addressed are to what extent and in what way has the nature of the landlord'tenant relationship changed? What does this mean for the nature and future of council housing? This chapter will also focus on the factors which have stimulated and sustained the developments described in the book. Why has tenant participation become more popular among housing managers and councillors and will its growth continue? Finally, the implications of changes in council housing for the nature of local government in Britain are drawn out. It was mentioned in Chapter 1 that housing has traditionally been an important function of district and metropolitan authorities in Britain. Also, the point was made that developments in housing mirror changes in other local government services. Therefore, a key question is whether the changing role of council housing identified in this book gives an indication of what local government in general will look like in the future.
