Part 17- Britain

An increasing number of people regard them as actually bad for you.. [7 419 Housing Almosteverybody in Britaindream s of livingin a detached house; that is, aho use which isaseparate bui

Ashop selling 'oltemotivemedicine'

QUEST IO N S

Oner easonw hy the British arc, per perso n, prescribed thefewest drugs

in Euro pe is po ssibly the common

fe eling t hat m any orthodox medi -cines are dang erous and should on ly

be taken when absolutely necessary

An increasing number of people regard them as actually bad for you The se peo ple, and others, are turning instead to some of the for m s

of treatment which generally go unde r the name of' alternative

me dicine ' A great varietyof these

are availab l e (reflecting , perhaps,

B ritish individuali sm ) However, the medical 'establishment ' (as rep-resen ted , fo r example,bythe Brit ish Medical Associat ion) has been slow

to consider the po ssi ble advantages

of such treatm en ts and the majority

o f t hepop u l atio n still tends to regard them w ith suspicion Homeopathic medi cine, for example, is not as

w idely avail able in chemis ts as it is

in some ot her countries in north

-w estern Europ e One of the few alternative treatmen ts (Q have ori -ginated in Britain are the Bach flower reme dies.

InBritain,the only peoplewho can choose

whether or not t o p ay na tio nal i nsurance co ntri

-butionsare the self-employed.Moreand more

of them arech o osin gnot to do so.Why do you

think thi s i s?

2 Wo uld you say that the b alance in B ritain

betweenwelfareprovi ded by thestateand

welfareofferedby charities isdifferent fro mtha t

i n your count ry? I n B ritain, do es th e b alance

app ear to be a stableone, orisit shiftingin

f avo ur of o ne or the o ther? I s t he s ame true in

your co un try?

3 From your readin g ofth is chap ter do youth in k

th at the B riti s h welfare st ate issuccessfuli n

giving help to everybodywho needsit?How

manyand whatkin d s ofpeop ledo youthink

'slip th rou gh thenet'of care'

4 What,according to thischapter,arethe main

pro blems of thewelfarestatein modernBri tain'

Aresimilarpro blem s encountered in you r

country?What solutionshavebeen su gges ted

or tri ed inBri tain ?Doyo u think theyare the

right ones?

5 H ow do es t he ge n er al status an d p ublic iInage

o f nu rses in Britai n c ompar e wit h that of nurse s

i n your country?

[7 4

19 Housing

Almosteverybody in Britaindream s of livingin a detached house;

that is, aho use which isaseparate building.The saying, 'An

English-man 's home is his castle' iswell- known It illustrates the des ire for privacy and the importance attache d to ownersh ip which seem to be

at the he ar t of t he B ritishaui tu de to h o usin g

Hou ses, n ot fla t s

A large, detached ho use not only ens ures privacy It is also a status

sy m bol At the extreme endofthescale there is the aristocratic 'statel y home' se t in acre s of garden Of co urse , such a hou se is an unrea listic dream for mos peopl e But eve n a sm all detached ho use ,

surro unded by garden, givesthe req uire sugges tio n of ur allife

which isdear toth heartsofman y Britishpeople.Mostpeopl e wouldbe happytolive in a cottage, and ifthisisa thatch ed cottage ,

reminiscent ofa pre -in dustrial age , so m uch the better.

Most peopletrytoavoid living in blocksof flats (w hattheAme r-icanscall'apartm ent blocks').Flats, theyfeel,pro videtheleast

amoun to f privacy With a few e xceptions , mo stly in certain lo cation s

in centralLondon , flatsare thecheapest kind ofhome.The people

w ho liv e i n t hem a re th o se wh o c annot aff ord to live anywhere else.

Thedislike ofl iving in flatsis verystro ng In the I 950Smillio ns of poore r peopl e lived in old, cold , uncomfortable ninetee nthcentury

ho uses , o ften wi th o nly an o utside to ilet a nd no bathroom D uring

th e n ext twe nty yea rs m anyofthemwe re given sma rt new 'h igh

rise' blocks offlatstolive in whic h ,withcentral heating and ba

th-r oo ms were m uch mo re com fortable and were surrounded by grassy

open spaces.Butpeo ple hatedthe ir new homes They said they felt cut off from the worldallthose floors up They missed the

neigh-bo ur lin ess.They could n' tkeep awatchfuleye on their children

playin gdo wn there in those lovely green spaces The new high-rise

blocksquicklydeter ior ated The lifts bro kedo w n The lights in the

co rrido rs didn't w ork W indows g ot br oken a nd were not repa ired.

Ther e wasgraffiti allover the walls

Athatch ed co ttage: a n id eali zed co untry r etreat

as'tow erblocks')c uld not havebeenasuccess.Inothe rc untries

millio ns of peoplelivereasonablyhappilyinflats.But in Britain they

were a failurebecausethe d no tsuitBrit ish attit udes.Th failure

h sbeengene rally recognized for severalyears now Nomo re hi

gh-risesarc beingbuilt.Atthepresent time,only4% of th population

liveinone.Only20%of thecountry'sh useholdslive in flats of

anykind

Th emostdesirabl ehome :

adetac hedhouse

The photo is from a builder's adve

rt-isemenr No tice:

• the 'trad itional' building materia ls o f

b rick ( the w alls) a nd slate (the roo f);

• the irregu lar, 'non-classical' , sha pe,

w ith a ll t hose little corners, m aking

t he h ouse f eel 'cosy' (sec m ain t e xt) ;

• t he s uggestion of a la rge front ga rden

wi th a t ree a n bus hes, e voki ng no t

only th e countrys ide but a lso giving

g reate r pr ivacy:

• that { he ga rage (on t he l e f i] is hidden

d iscretely aw ay, so t hat it is n ot t oo

ob vio us a nd doesn't s po il t he rura l

f eeli ng;

• t hat th e f ro nt d oor i s n ot eve n i n { he

pi cture ( the p rivacy c riterion at work a g ain )

Adtachedhouse

176 19Hou sin g

house

The least desirable:a flat

T his k ind of h ouse us ually h as no way through 1O t he back except through the house itself Each house

i n t he row is joined 1O the next one

(Houses at the end of the ro w are a bit more desirable - they arc the most like a semi-detached) They usually have two floors, with two bedrooms upstai rs Some have gardens back and front , o thers only

at t he back and o thers no garde n at

a ll B efor e the 1 960s, B rita i n had milli on s of te rraced h ou ses, most with n o i nside toilet or bath room Man y o f th ese w ere th en kno cked

do wn b ut i n so me a reas t hose th at have survive d have become quite desirable - a fter repa irs and build ing wor k have been carried out.

- '

Not havi ng a se parate en trance to t he outs ide wo rld d oes nor suit B ritish tastes Although it is d ensely popu

-lated, Br itain has t he second lowest proportion of H at-dw ellers in the EU (the lo west of all is in I reland )

fmJ.

<

of pe op l e who r ent f rom p rivate

o wners li v e in flats of t hi s ki nd Some times , these arc 'self - con -tained ' flats (they have wa hi ng and

co ok i ng facili t ies and it i s not n ec e

s-s ary to wa lk through an ybody el se's

H a t o g et 1O your o wn): so metimes ,

t hey ar e ' bedsits' ( i.e be d-Sitting roo ms ; r esidents h ave o ne roo m t o

t hemselves and sh are w ashing a nd coo king fac ilities wit h othe r residents)

stree t i n t he s ub urbs of cities an d

t he outsk irts o f t owns a ll over

Br itain Notic e t he separa te f ro m garden f or e ach house At the sides , there i s access to the bac k, w here the re w ill a lso be tw o gardens The

m ost commo n b uil din g mate rial i s

b rick Th e ty pical se mi-detached ha s

tw o flo or s and t hr e b edrooms.

Unless they are located i n t he remotest parts of the country.

detached houses are too ex pensive for most people So this is w ha t a very large proportion of peo ple li ve in: one building with t w o sepa rate house ho lds Eac h house i s t he m irror

of the other i nside and out Th ese

h ouses c an be fo un d , str eet after

Th ese hou ses , wh ich c an be found

i n the inner ar eas of m ost cities, are

an exception to the gen era l pa n ern There is great v arie ty regarding borh

de sign and lis e Th ey o ften have

th ree or m ore floors, p er hap s i nclu

d-i ng a ba sem ent o r se m i- basem en

A lthough t hey are usu ally t e rrac e d ,

t hose th at a re we ll-preserved and in

a 'good ' area may be thou ght h ighl y desir able M any have been bro ken

up into flats or rooms f or r ent M ost

of the compara tively s mall n um ber An exception: thetownhouse

The image of a home asa castle impliesa clear demarcationbetween

privateproperty and thepublic domain,Thi sisvery clearin the case

of a detached house.Flats,on theother hand ,involveuncertainti es

Youshare the corridoroutsideyour ront door butwhowith? The

other residen tson thesam efloor,orallthe residents inthebuildin g?

Whatabo utthefoyer downstairs' Isthisonlyfor the useof the

peop le who livein theblock, or forthe public in general?These

unccrtaitu ies perhaps explainwhythe 'communal' livingexpected

ofHat-dwellershasbeen unsuccessful in mostof Britain

Law andcustomseem to supportaclearseparationbetw een what

ispublic andwha t isprivate.Forexam ple , peoplehave no general

righttoreserve theroad directly outside theirhou sefortheir own

cars The castle putslimitson thedomain ofitsowne ras well as

k eping outothers.Italsolim its responsibility.It is com paratively

rare, for example, for peopleto attempttokeepthebitofpavem ent

outsidetheir house clean andtid y.Tha t is not their job.It is outside

theirdomain

To emphasize this clear divisio n peo ple prefer tolive in housesa

little bitset backfrom the road This way, heycan have a front

garde nor yard as akind of buffer zone betw een themand theworld

Theseareasarenot norma llyverybig Buttheyallowresidentsto

havelowfence s,walls or hedg esaroundthem Usually.these barriers

d n tphysically prevent even atw o-yearoldch ildfrom entering,

buttheyhavepsychological force.They announceto theworld

exactly wheretheprivateproperty begins Even in the depths of the

countryside, wherether emaybe no road immediatelyoutside, the

same phe no menoncanbe seen

Th e importan ce o f ' ho me'

Despitethe reverence they tendto feel for 'home,Britishpeople

havelittledeep-r ooted attachmen t totheir house as an object.orto

the lando which itstands.It isthe abstract idea of 'home' whichis

importan t,notthe build ing Thiswill be soldwhe nthe tim e andprice

is rightandits occupierswill move intosome otherhouse which

they will then turn into'home'- a home which th y will love jus t

asmuchastheydidtheprevious one

But thehousesthem selvesarejust investments.An illustra tio nof

thislackof attachmentto merehouses (asopposedtoho m es) isthat

two-thirds of all inheritedhousesare immediatel y sold bythe peopl e

who inherit them.even if thesepeople havelivedthere themselvesat

sometim e in thei r lives.Another isthefact that it isextremelyrare

for people to commissionthe buildi ng oftheir ownhouses, (Most

housesare commissionedeithe rb local government authoritie

s-for poorer peopleto livein - or, more frequently,byprivate compan

-iesknown as 'propertydevelopers 'who sellthemon theopen

Th ere i s o ne exception to the rule that ' homes' are more important tha n ' ho mes' This i s amo ng the aris-tocra cy Ma n}'of these fa milies own fine ol d co untry houses, o ften w ith

a gr eat de al o fla nd attached, in which the y have li ved for h undreds

of years They hav e ve r}' gr eat emotional inve stment in th eir houses - and ar c pr e par ed to tr y er y hard to stay in them This c an be very difficult in modern tim es , partl y because of death duti es ( ver y high taxe s whi ch th e i nh eritor o f a l arge propert y ha s to pa y)

So , in o rde r t o Slay i n t heir h ouses, many ari stocrats li ve liv es wh ich arc

l ess ph ysically co mfortable than tho se o f m ost p eople (they may n ot ,

f or e xam ple, h ave cent ral heati ng).

Man y have al so turne d t heir houses and land int o touris t attrac tions.

These are popular n ot o nly wit h foreign touri s t s Briti sh vis ito rs a re also happy to b e able to walk aro und

in rural surrounding s s they in spe ct

a pan of their cou ntry' s histor y.

178 19 H ousing

11Io' S imilar, but not th e same

A typical suburban district Yo u

might think that liv ing in one of

t hes s t ree t s ' w o u l d be m uch t he

same as living i n t he one nex t [Q i t.

But a n attem pt at in dividuali ty i s found here too In B ritain t he re are

an eno rmo us number of wor ds

wh ich are used in place o f the w ord

'street' (such as venue close crescent.

dove laneandpark) I t isquite

common to find three streets next to each other named fo r xam ple , 'Pow nall Close', 'Pownall Ga rdens '

and' Pownall Cre sce nt' The idea

h e e is th at one s tree t i s diff erent from a n eighbo uring stre et not j ust because it has adifferentname - it is

a different kind of place !

This altitu de is sodo m inant that it leads to astran ge approach

tow ard sho useprices Wheneverthese fall, tis generally regarded

asa 'badthin g '.You might thinkthat it wouldbe a goodth ing,

because people can then findsomewhereto live more cheaply.After

a ll, it is risi ng p rices th at are u sually regarded as bad But w it h ho u ses

i t is t h e other way around Fa lling prices mean that mo stpeopl e canno t afford to sell t heir house They havebor ro w ed a l ot o f money

to bu y it som etim es mo re than its present value) They are stuck!

T o most Br itish peopl e , s uch immobility i s a terrible mi sfortune.

F la ts ar e not unp op u lar just because they do not giv e enough privacy

I t is a l so b ecause they do notallow e noug h sco pe for the expression

of individu alit y Peoplelike to choosethe colo urof their own front

d o or an d w indow fr am es, and also to c ho ose wha t the y ar e g in g to

do witha littlebit ofoutsi de territory, howeversmall that may be

The opportunitywhich it affords forindivid ualself-expressio nis

ano ther advantage of the front garden In anyone s treet, some are

just patches of grass, othe rs are a mixture of these S o me are

demarc-ated by walls,others byfen ces,othersby privet hedgesandsome

have n o ba rri e at all The po ssibili ties for variety are almost en dless!

H ow ever, no t everyth i ng abo ut ho us in g in Britain displays indi

-v iduality B e ause m o st ho u ses are built by o rgan izat i on s, n o t

individuals,theyare not usuallybuiltoneat atime Instead , whole

streets, even neighbo urh ood s (oftencalled 'estates'),arebuilt at the

sam e t ime For reaso n s of economy all the house s on an estate are

usuall y builttothe sam e design.Viewed from the air, adjacentstreets

inBritish tow ns oftenseem to be full of housesthat are identical

[r>Similar,butnot the some).Indeed, they are so similarthat when a

build ing com p a ny adve rtises a new e sta te , it ofte n invi te s people to

is'showho me'.This isjustone of thehouses, but by looking around

it, peoplec ngeta fairlyaccurateimpression ofany houseo the

es tate

Bu t if,later,youwalked dow n the same stree tsthatyousaw from

theair, everySingle ho use wouldseemdifferen t.The residentswill

have made sure o f hat! In an attem pt to achieve extra ind ividuality

some people even giv e th eir house a name (although others regard this as pre tent ious},In subu rbs and town s ther e i s a c o nstant battle

go ing o n between the individualistic de sires of the h ou sehol de rand the n ecessity for some elemen t o f regimentation in a d e nsely po

pu-lated area.Thiscontestisillustrated bythefacttha t anybodywho

wan t s to build an exte n sio n to their hou se , or even a garde n s hed,

must(ifi is over a certain size) firs t get 'p lann ing permiss i o n' from

theloca la thorities

Britis hhouses have a reputationfor beingthe coldest inEu rop e.

Itis partly the result of the fact thathou ses in Brit ain are,o average,

Infact,abou t th ree-q u art ers now have centralheating.However,there

open This way, air can be let into theho use in winterwithou tfreezing

its inh abi tan ts

physicalreality,so isth eiridea of domesticcomfor t The important

over aesthetic co cern s, which is why th eBritish also have a reputa

synt h e ticmateri al , than one more beautifu landITIOre physically

want to beco sy , youhaveto fill the roomup

age The open fire is anexample InBritain , it is regardedby man y as

verydesirable to have a 'realfire'(asit is oftencalle d).It s the perfect

thepast o keep warm So strong is the attract ionof a'real fire' that

manyho u seshave anim itationope nfire, completewith plasticcoal

Thisarrangementmaint ains privacy (whichis linkedto cosiness) It

allowsthe frontro o m to be kept for comparativelyformal visits ,

while family membersand clo se friendscan spend th eir time,safely

hiddenfrom public view, in the backroom Most modern smaller

doorand a back door Evenif both can be reachedfro m the street ,

It is difficult to generalize about how

B ritish p eop le usc the various rooms

i n t hei r houses They may like th e

idea o f t radition , but they arc too

i ndivi dualistic to follo w the same

tr adit ional hab its The only safe gen -eraliz ation i s that, in a hous e with

t \VO floors , he rooms upstair s are

t he one s used as bedrooms T he

to ilet (o ften s eparate) an d

bath-room are a lso usua lly upstairs The

li v i ng roo m(s) and k itchen ar c

down stairs The l auer i s usually

s ma ll, b ut t hose w ho can afford th e

s pace o ften like to h ave a ' farm hou se

k itch en ' , big en ough for the f am ily

to e at i n.

C lass d ivisions are sometimes

i nvo lved i n the n am es used for roo ms W ith li ving rooms, for

e xampl e, t he t erm s 'silting room '

a nd ' d raw in g room' are regarded as

u pp er -mi ddl e class, while ' loung e'

is re garde d as lo wer cl ass 'From

ro om ' and 'b ack ro om' a rc als o somet imes looke d d ov.vn o n

180 19Hou sing

dev elopments

Th e grow t h in hom e ow ners hip

mi llion s

20

15 1

5

o

• O wner-occup ied

• R ented fro m l oca l authorit y

• Rent ed f ro m h ousing associat ion s, priv ate ly, or w ith a j ob o r bus iness

S ource: D epa rtm entoftheEn vironment

Thi s graph show s how

home-ow ner shi p has increased in the seco nd half of the t wentiet h c ntury.

Br itain now has a percentage of owner -o ccupied h ouseholds w hic h

is well abo ve the European a verage

O wn ing and r enting

Most Bri tish peopledo not'belong' toa particularplace (see chapter 4),nor are theyusually brought upin a long-establishedfamily

houseto whichthey can alwaysretu rn Perhaps this is whythey are

not usuallyco n ten t torent their acconunodation.Whereverthey

are , theyliketoputdown roots

Thedesireto own the placewhere you liveis almostuniversal in

Briain How ever , house pricesare high.Thisdilem m a is overcome

bythe mortgagesystem,which is probablya more established aspect

of everydaylifethan itis anywhere elsein the world.About 70%of

allthehouses in the country are occupied by their owners and almost all ofthese were b ughtwithamortgage At any o ne time,half of

theseare ownedb people wh have borrowed80%(or even mo re)

oftheir priceand are nowpayin gthismoneyback mon thb mo n th Then rm al arrangemen t isfor theb rro w er to paybackthemon ey

overaperiodof tw entytotw enty-five years The financialinstitu

-tio s knownas 'build ingsocieties' wereoriginallysetup topro vid e

mortga ges.In the I980s, however, regulations were relaxed, so that

banks now offer mortgages as well

People are happy to take outmortgagesbecausehouseprices normally increase a bit fasterthan the generalcost ofliving.There

-fore ,mostpeoplec nmake aprofitwhentheysellthe irho use So

strong isthis expectationthat phrases suchas'first-timebuyer ' an 'second-time b yer'are well-known.Theformer can only affor do e

of the che aper ho s s available.Butaround ten years later,when

som eofthe ir mort gagehasbeenpaid off, theycanbecome the latter

They selltheirh uses ata profitand move into a more expensive house Althoug h nearly everybody wants to own their house,it was

onlyat theendofthe twentiethcentury that a majorityof people

began to do so.Before tha t tim e, most working-class peoplelived in

ren tedaccom m o dat ion.Atonetim e,mostofthem rentedfrom privateland lords, someof who mexploitedthem badly In the 19505

and 1 6 5 ,however,millio nsofhomeswere bu ilt bylocalgovern

-mentauth riti es.By 19 77, wo-thirds of alltenantslivedin these 'cou ncilhouses' (o r,in some cases , flats) Cou ncilrents aresu bsid-ized,so they are low Eachlocal counc il keeps a waiting listof

house ho ldswhowan tto move into a council property.The order of preferenceis workedoutbya complicated set of priorities Once they

are given a counc ilhouse, tenantshave security; that is,they do not

have to move out even if they become rich

Fro m 1950 to 198othe proportionof ,owne r-occupiers 'grad ually

increased.Theam bitio toown wasmade easier byp liciesof'tax

relief'.So m eoftheinterestwhich peoplepaido theirmortgage

could be subtractedfromtheincometax they had to payand peop le

selling their houses did nothave to pay 'capitalgainstax'on an y

pro fit.With bo th owner-occupiersand counciltenantsincreasing in numbers, the percentage of peoplewhorented from private landlords

Who owns? Who rents?

100 %

80%

60%

40%

20%

o

~/"OI "/"II "/"011oo-/"011oo-/"11 "/"II /"0"'"

1 -

r-

c

Owner-occupied , o w ne d outri ght

Owner-occupi ed , o w ned w it h mo rt gage

Rented from loc al au th ority

R ented privately

Source: General H ousehold S urvey ( f 989 -90)

becam e oneofth lowe stin the world- and co ntinues to beso

Thenduring the I980s, th numberofow ner-occu piers increased

more sh arply.Amajor part ofth philosophyofThatcherism (under

PrimeMinisterMargaret Thatcher) was theidea ofthe 'property

-owningdemocracy' Counciltenants were allowed to buy the ir

c uncilhousesandwere give financialincentives to do so Thed

e-regulat ion ofmortgage-lending (see above) also encouragedhouse

-buyin g.So did an in rease in the financial helpgiven to owne rswho

wanted to make improvem entstotheir property Atthe same tirne ,

localco uncils wer e severe ly limitedin thenumber of properties

which theycould buildandwere also encour agedtosell their prop

-erties to private 'housing associations'.As a result, henumber of

co uncil tenantsactuallydecreased

Bythemid I990s,thetrends of the previousdecade seemed to

havehalted.Fewercouncil-housetenan ts were buyin g theirhouses

andtax reliefonmo rtgages was bein gphased out The policy of

sellin g of councilhouseshad beendiscredi ted by the 'homes-for

-v tes' scandal.Inthe early I 990Si became cleartha tafew local

councilsrunb theConservative partyhaddecid edtokeep their

pro perties em pty,instead ofren tingthem tofamili es who need ed

th m,untiltheyfound buyers forthem Theidea was thatthebuyers

would probablyvote Conservative- while peoplewhocouldonly

afford to rentwouldprobablynot

Owningandrent ing: cla ss

I n the m iddle years of the twentieth century, w hether you owned o r rented a house was a m arker of class.

If you owned your house, you were middle class; if you lived in a counci l

house , you were working class

H ow ever , the graph above shows

t hat this is no longer true A clear

ma jority o f sk illed manual w orkers are o w ner -occupiers, as are40%of even unsk illed manual workers.

Notice the small proportion of

pe ople (ofany category) who own

t heir house ' out right' ( t.c they have finished paying off t he mortgage) or

ren t pr ivately Only among those

w ith hi gher-statu s jobs are t here more pri vate te nants than council tenants.

82 19Ho usin g

Findin g somewhere to live

I f you want to buy a hous e , i t is v ery

rare to deal directly with the pe rson selling Instead, you go to an esta te

agent T hese compan ies exis t so lely t o act as 'go -bcrwcens' for p eop le buying and selling houses They hel p w ith the various procedures - an d ta ke a fa t co m

-mission! If you are interested i n one of

th e houses 'on their hoo ks', they wil l

arrange a 'Viewing' You can also s pot

houses for sa le by the 'For sale ' signs

wh ich are put up o n w ood en p osts

outside the houses concerned.

If you want to rent somewhere f ro m

a private landlord (not ,1 council) , he

usual p lace to look is i n t he lo cal n ew s

-paper Estate agents do n ot of ten d ea l

with places for rent, a lth ough t her e ar e spcciallcnings agencies

Anothe r possible way of fin ding

somewhere to live is to ' squat' Sq

uat-ters arc peo ple who occu py em pt y houses without paying r em I f y ou do not cause any dam age when m oving in

to an empty house , you ha ve no t

broken the law I f the own er wants to

get you OUl, he or sh e has to get an

order from the court to h ave you evicte d.

Alternatively, you c ou ld b ecom e a

'New Age Trave ller' and li ve i n a b us, coach or van, moving from p lace to

place.

H omelessness

popu-lation in all the count riesofEurop e.Thesupply of councilhousing

ones.In addi tion , man yco uncil houses and flatswere badly built

numbersofpeople who can' taffordto rent somewhereto live pri

-vately,whoare noteligiblefor council accom moda tion (and who would pro bablybeat theendof alon g waiting listifthey were) and

sma ller,sothat , althoughthepopulation is increasing onlyvery slowly, mor eplaces tolive arestill need ed

matters wo rse ,the valueofhou ses,unusually, fellsharplyatthis time

Theyhad tosell their homes, oftenfor lessthan theybought them,

andsowere in debt as wellas homeless

-tio n in boardingho uses (sm all privately runguesthousesor 'bed

and breakfasts ')b theirlocal council.It istheduty oflocal authorities

arerun bycharitableorga nizations.Thousandsof Single people

Sim plylive on the streets, where they 'sleep rough' The phrase 'card boardCity' became well-known in the I980stodescribe areas

peop le camped ou t,protectedfrom the weatheronlyby cardboard

boxes

the Britishgovernment, partlybecause th levelof publicawareness

ofthesitua tion islow (in spite ofth effortsofc aritiessuch as Shelter,whogiveadvice to the homelessandwho campaign ontheir

behalf ) In many cases, the homelessarethose with personalprob

they arepeopl e who simply don 't wantto 'settledown'andwho

wouldn 't classthem selves as homeless.There are, for example,