Public Housing and State-Led Gentrification in London

This paper sets out a framework for understanding how state-led gentrification has occurred in London with reference to public (council) housing and urban regeneration policies. It argues that council housing played a key role as a 'buffer' against gentrification in London from the 1960s to 1980s, with certain inner London councils such as Camden and Islington, using the municipalisation of private housing as a deliberate policy strategy to counter gentrification. However since the 1980s, this 'buffer' role has been diminished under neoliberalism, firstly by the 1980 Right-to-Buy policy, but more recently by New Labour regeneration policies, notably stock transfers to 'not-for-profit' housing associations, plus the direct sale of estates (or estate land) to the private sector. The paper understands the state-led gentrification of London's council housing via developing the notion of a 'state-induced rent gap', whereby the actual stock has been inadequately maintained while land values have risen. Finally, the paper examines how the diminution of public housing is negatively impacting on London's low-income population and is thereby exacerbating social and spatial inequalities. In doing so, the paper draws upon a range of data sources, including official statistics, but also interviews with young people living in temporary accommodation for whom council housing represents an elusive ‘gold standard’ of housing that they aspire to, but a standard that is increasingly out of reach.