ABSTRACT
Housing reformers greeted the formation of the LCC with eager anticipation, for it was hoped that the new broom would sweep clean, and vigorously enforce the housing acts. In 1898 the housing committee presented to the Council a report which marked a turning point in the history of working-class housing in London, for it signalled the impending entry of the municipal government into the field of housing. The debate on the housing committee's motion was long and heated and revealed the deep differences between the Progressives and the Moderates. The overwhelming victory of the Progressives in the first elections—they constituted nearly two thirds of the Council and dominated the first housing committees—suggested that the housing question might at last be tackled imaginatively and firmly. The housing manager was put in charge of a special housing department and had full responsibility for advising on the purchase of housing sites.
