COUNCIL HOUSE SALES, RESIDUALIZATION AND AFRO-CARIBBEAN TENANTS

During the 1980s, about 30 per cent of the council housing stock of Gr eat Britain was sold to sitting tenants. The popular areas for purchas e and the popular types of property were semi-detached and terraced ho uses rather than flats or maisonettes, away from the large conurbation s. The types of household most likely to buy were married couples with adult children in skilled occupations. This large scale selling of co uncil housing led to the fear of a residual poor population, living in flats in inner cities. Since nearly half of Afro Caribbean households were living in council housing and since their pattern of housing was the obverse of the types that sold in large numbers, it was thought t hat they would be among the residualised households. The paper reports on field survey and special GHS data which show that Afro Caribbeans are more rather than less willing to buy their council homes, once pro perty type has been controlled for. It also argues that, in some circu mstances, the right to buy may act against residualisation. However, a particularly residualised group appears to be Caribbean single mother s in high rise blocks.