ABSTRACT
One of the key concepts in planning is that of ‘balance’. Thus it is held that there should be a balanced distribution of employment, of social classes and age and income groups, of land uses, and of housing provision. In documenting some of the social aspects of housing policy it is natural to dwell on ‘problems’. Social aspects cannot be separated into a compartment distinct from, for example, financial, design and management aspects. Furthermore a consideration of the social aspects of housing brings one into the wider fields of social policy and applied sociology. Small housing developments can often be carried out by local authorities without any major expansion of community facilities. Slum clearance is not an official policy forced by an unfeeling Government on reluctant local authorities; nor is it a means by which local authorities merely rid themselves of the less beautiful parts of their towns and villages.
