Up Against a Brickwall: The dead-end in housing policy, National Union of Public Employees and Services to Community Action & Trade Unions, February, 1978

Since the election of the Labour Government in February 1974, the struggle to achieve decent housing for all sections of the community has suffered a number of major setbacks. First, by October 1977 the Government had cut an estimated £1,250m from the housing programme. Second, under the guise of ‘rationalisation’, the Government has introduced tough measures to curb the degree of autonomy of local councils over the size and scope of their housing programmes. Third, there have been major moves to expand the private housing market at the expense of council housing. This pamphlet is designed to illustrate the housing crisis facing working people and describes the impact of the crisis on working class areas. It is intended to be a major contribution to the debate now taking place throughout Britain on the Government’s housing green paper (60 pages).