# Social housing > Social housing is any rental housing that may be owned and managed by the state, by non-profit organizations, or by a combination of the two, usually with the aim of providing affordable housing. > > – [Public housing - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_housing) Saw an interesting exhibition about social housing at the V&A: [[A Home for All: Six Experiments in Social Housing]]. ## Social housing estates in London - Alexandra road estate - Adelaide road estate - Lion Green Road - Spa green - Keeling house ## History in the UK > In the mid-1970s nearly half the population of England and Wales lived in council houses > > – [[A Home for All: Six Experiments in Social Housing]] But as we know… > with the election of [[Margaret Thatcher]] in 1979 the housing sector underwent rapid [[privatisation]]. Local authority architects’ departments were disbanded, public land was sold off, and millions of council homes were bought[…] > > – [[A Home for All: Six Experiments in Social Housing]] > Clegg hit out at David Cameron and his Conservative partners in government. He said the former Tory leader or the chancellor – “I honestly can’t remember whom – looked genuinely nonplussed and said: ‘I don’t understand why you keep going on about the need for more social housing – it just creates Labour voters.’ > > – [Clegg: Osborne casually cut welfare for poorest to boost Tory popularity | Ni…](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/sep/02/nick-clegg-george-osborne-cut-welfare-poorest-boost-tory-popularity)