Social housing plan does not go far enough - Veterans Aid
Dr Hugh Milroy, Chief Executive of Veterans Aid responds to the Government's announcement on social housing.
This is yet another useful step forward in addressing the national housing problem - but I believe it does not go far enough and the time has come to take things to the next level.
To do so the Government could look to military history for inspiration. In 1942 the Government under Churchill realised that, as a result of the Blitz, there was a need to replace slums and, vitally, to care for the needs of returning military personnel post-conflict. Accordingly, the 'Burt Committee' or Interdepartmental Committee on House Construction came into being.
This Committee, under the Housing (Temporary Accommodation) Act 1944, recommended the building of prefabricated (non-traditional) houses.
Many of these “prefabs” lasted well beyond their supposed use-by date and fulfilled a real need.
It may just be that with regard to our housing crisis the time has come to act as decisively as Churchill did all those years ago?
