Owners and Tenants: The Commonwealth Housing Commission and Post-War Housing, 1943-1949

This article takes as its point of departure early research by the economic historian David Merrett on owner-occupiers and tenants. In the light of his subsequent explanation of the growth of sources of finance for house purchasers after 1945, it investigates the post-war housing program of the Commonwealth government with its emphasis on planning, co-ordination and public provision. Within the larger context of post-war reconstruction, it argues that the failure of the public housing program provided the stimulus for the spread of owner-occupation. The failure is explained as the outcome of economic constraints and the shrinking political capacity of post-war reconstruction.