§ Mr. Kaufmanasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what has been the reduction in housing units in the private rented sector in each calendar year since and including 1946.
§ Mr. StanleyInformation as requested is not available. Firm estimates of the number of dwellings rented from private owners are available only for certain years and are as follows:
DWELLINGS RENTED FROM PRIVATE OWNERS*: ENGLAND: 1951–1977 thousands April 1951 6,300 April 1961 4,310 April 1966 3,624 April 1971 3,045 December 1977 2,207 * Including dwellings rented with farm, with business premises, by virtue of employment; excluding dwellings owned by housing associations. Changes in the definition of dwelling used in the 1971 Census resulted in an increase of about 25,000 dwellings. Source: 1951–71—Census of Population; 1977—the National Dwelling and Housing Survey.
84WIn addition, the Department of the Environment has made annual estimates from 1966 of the housing stock subdivided by tenure, and those are published in Housing and Construction Statistics No. 29. However, these estimates include certain assumptions regarding the tenure distribution of gains and losses in the housing stock and are, therefore, not based on direct evidence.