ABSTRACT
In 1985, the government identified eighty-one estates, involving 25,000 social housing units, which were in serious difficulty, based on a Commission it had set up in 1984. This represented 5 per cent of the social housing stock, but up to three times this number were in some difficulty and needed special treatment. In the period of low housing demand in the early 1980s, far more households with the acute social problems gained access to social housing than previously. The government commission report concluded that social housing would continue to have problems requiring constant attention because it attempted to house people in real difficulty. A revival in demand for social housing from better-off groups offered the prospect of restoring the fortunes of the unpopular estates, precisely because it ensured the place of the social housing as a resource for the mixed communities.
