ABSTRACT
Tenant purchase strengthened the sense of ‘belonging’ and enabled many more low-income households to become the owner-occupiers than would otherwise have been possible. Both the Combat Poverty Agency, funded through the EC, and organisations working with the homeless and rootless, such as Threshold, argued that the very strong tenant purchase policies had a seriously dislocating effect on public rented housing. One of the most important developments in the 1980s was the recognition that government action was needed to reverse the declining fortunes of local authority housing. The initiative was targeted at the unpopular estates where very little tenant purchase had taken place, principally the modern estates, but also the early balcony block estates. While the tenant purchase had helped to stabilise some estates, much of the remaining stock was difficult to sell and would largely remain for the low-cost renting.
