The act was introduced by the first Labour government, and was known as the Wheatley Housing Act after John Wheatley, the minister who introduced it.
The Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald dubbed the act 'our most important legislative item'.[1] This measure went some way towards rectifying the problem of the housing shortage, caused by the disruption of the building trade during the First World War and the inability of working-class tenants to rent decent, affordable housing. Wheatley was able to provide public housing to council tenants, as against the previous government's commitment to privatisation. This landmark act subsidised the construction of 521,700 rented homes at controlled rents by 1933, when the subsidy for encouraging local authority housing construction was abolished.[2]
According to one historical study, Wheatley’s houses had “slightly larger dimensions than Chamberlain’s,” and were also the first to be “equipped compulsorily with a bathroom instead of a bath” in the scullery.
References
Modern Britain: Life and Work through Two Centuries of Change by T.K. Derry and T.L. Jarman