The post-war Labour government introduced the Welfare State to address the 'Five Giants' of disease, squalor, want, ignorance and idleness. The measures introduced had varied levels of success.
Most of Britain still had slum areas. Overcrowding was a serious problem that was made worse by bomb damage during the war. To deal with the problem of squalor, the government concentrated on the building of decent homes for the working class after the war. The aim was to build 200,000 houses a year. Many were prefabricated houses which were assembled quickly onsite.
The Labour government's record in this area does not compare favourably with pre-war levels of house building or with the achievements of the Conservatives in the 1950s