Before World War II the number of homes in Britain and the number of households were roughly equal. The war changed all this. A million homes were lost through bomb damage from a stock of 11 million, plus the post war baby boom added a million to the population. The surviving housing was old and in need of repair. Housing became a political issue with people looking to the state for solutions and both parties championing local authority housing as the solution.

Housing subsidies to local authorities were trebled in 1946 and increased again in 1952. Private building was constrained by cost, however sometimes this produced innovation, as in the case of Brett Manor, Brett Road. Built by Manor Charitable Trustees in 1948 it was the first reinforced concrete box frame building in London.

Local authority building at the time was much more varied and innovative than before the war. Many designs in Hackney were by Frederick Gibberd. He designed the first mixed use development in England, Somerford Estate, completed in 1949. It provided 150 dwellings in five different forms of flats and houses of between one and three storeys in height. There were also plenty of community facilities including a nursery, pub, library, chapel, club room and laundry.

Woodberry Down Estate, in the north of the borough, was on a much larger scale. Conceived before the war, and redesigned in 1943, it was finally built in 1946-52. It provided 1,765 dwellings in a mix of five and eight storey blocks. The Estate was bitterly opposed by many, because of its size and the fact it was intended primarily for slum dwellers from outside the borough.

There was little consistency in the type of facilities provided in different developments. Vaine House and Granard House built in 1955 had coal fires whereas The Beckers, another Frederick Gibberd design built in 1958, had electric underfloor heating. Woodberry Down, earlier than all these, had central heating, electric fires and lifts.

By the end of the 1950s there was a further push to clear the slums and local authorities were also given powers to compulsory purchase sound houses to enable them to make up parcels of land for redevelopment. These sites were then frequently used for mass hi-density housing particularly tower blocks.

One reason for this approach was the shortage of land and concern over suburban growth and its encroachment on rural land. Another was the influence of building companies who preferred large cleared sites and who often had relationships with Local Authorities and architects (only 32% of LA dwellings in 1964 were contracted through open tendering). Another factor was the influence of people like Corbusier who promoted the idea of high rise living in 'streets in the sky'.

The popularity of tower blocks decreased dramatically in 1968 when a tower block in Newham, Ronan Point, collapsed. Maisonettes became popular followed by system built estates, which involved bolting together prefabricated concrete panels on site. System building in Hackney had disastrous results. The Holly Street Estate was completed in 1971 and was comprised of tower blocks and snake blocks providing 1,145 dwellings. Only twenty years later it had condensation, leaking roofs and insect infestation. In addition the design encouraged social problems such as muggings, burglary and vandalism. The problems of mass housing were becoming clear and the phenomenon of ‘hard to let’ estates emerged. Holly Street is now being redeveloped with only one tower block surviving.

In the 1980s the government favoured housing associations for the provision of social housing rather than councils. Overall however it was in favour of owner occupation and cut money for social housing. The 'Right to Buy' scheme, for council tenants, was also introduced as part of a government policy of consumer choice. Hackney with run down estates and a poor population did have a high take up of right to buy. However the general effect of the policy, when coupled with the Council's obligations to house people under the Homeless peoples Act of 1977, was to divide estates between better ones with a high ratio of owner occupiers and the run down estates housing the poorest and most disadvantaged people.

Another effort to remove housing from local authorities was voluntary stock transfers, which allowed local authorities to transfer their stock to housing associations or local housing companies. A big incentive was that the new landlords are permitted to borrow to raise money for repairs, which local authorities are not. Kingsmead Estate in Hackney was transferred to Kingsmead Homes in 1998 under a £43 million regeneration programme. It has still struggled with problems of disrepair and huge rent arrears.

The emphasis in Hackney in the 1990s has been on regeneration. New housing schemes have been medium rise along traditional street patterns often including private gardens instead of semi-public space. Shared ownership and the introduction of private houses into previously council only areas are some of the efforts to lessen the divide between council and private areas. However during the planning of the Holly Street redevelopment the tenants had to fight to get the same amount of space they had before. As well as units often being smaller there is typically an overall loss of dwellings through regeneration. This is sometimes overcome by freeing up larger units which are under occupied by older people whose families have moved out.

In Hackney today there is limited space for new building. What there is are infill schemes on brownfield sites, which are sites that have previously been developed, such as the Peabody development on the Raine's Dairy site. This, like Murray Grove another Peabody building in Shoreditch, is a building made from units that are prefabricated off site. These are of a very high quality and are quick to put together. Conversion is also popular, with several old schools converted into loft style apartments as well as buildings such as the German Hospital in Fassett Square.

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