Housing (Temporary Accommodation) Act 1944
Encyclopedia
The Housing Act 1944 is an Act
of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
(7 & 8 Geo. VI c. 36) which was passed in order to provide solutions to the housing crisis which occurred at the end of World War II
.
The Act was the responsibility of the Ministry of Reconstruction
, and came in response to the recommendations of the Burt Committee
, which had been established in 1942.
The Government aimed to provide enough homes for each family who required an individual dwelling, which it perceived had been the situation in 1939 prior to the outbreak of war. However, the Blitz
had rendered some 450,000 homes either completely destroyed or uninhabitable. A secondary intention of the act was the completion of the pre-war slum
clearance project.
The Act provided for a number of strategies to solve the housing crisis:
A budget of £150 million pounds was committed to the project.
Act of Parliament
An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...
of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
(7 & 8 Geo. VI c. 36) which was passed in order to provide solutions to the housing crisis which occurred at the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
The Act was the responsibility of the Ministry of Reconstruction
Ministry of Reconstruction
The Ministry of Reconstruction was a department of the United Kingdom government which existed after both World War I and World War II in order to provide for the needs of the population in the post war years.- World War I :...
, and came in response to the recommendations of the Burt Committee
Burt Committee
The Burt Committee was a working party set up by the government of the United Kingdom to provide guidance on the housing shortage.The committee had the correct title of the Interdepartmental Committee on House Construction. It was established in September 1942 by the Minister of Health, the...
, which had been established in 1942.
The Government aimed to provide enough homes for each family who required an individual dwelling, which it perceived had been the situation in 1939 prior to the outbreak of war. However, the Blitz
The Blitz
The Blitz was the sustained strategic bombing of Britain by Nazi Germany between 7 September 1940 and 10 May 1941, during the Second World War. The city of London was bombed by the Luftwaffe for 76 consecutive nights and many towns and cities across the country followed...
had rendered some 450,000 homes either completely destroyed or uninhabitable. A secondary intention of the act was the completion of the pre-war slum
Slum
A slum, as defined by United Nations agency UN-HABITAT, is a run-down area of a city characterized by substandard housing and squalor and lacking in tenure security. According to the United Nations, the percentage of urban dwellers living in slums decreased from 47 percent to 37 percent in the...
clearance project.
The Act provided for a number of strategies to solve the housing crisis:
- An increase in the labour force of the building industry to pre-war levels of over 1 million
- The construction of at least 300,000 homes during the two year period after the act, under the Emergency Factory Made programme
- To prevent price inflation caused by high demand on building services
- To subsidise privately built houses
- To provide for the construction of temporary, prefabricated housing
A budget of £150 million pounds was committed to the project.