However, doesn't that want dominate the minds of people in Britain too? Our own nations dream can be found to develop during the 1980's when Margaret Thatcher fought for the council tenants right to buy their homes. The 'Right to Buy' scheme published in 1979 allowed freedom to it's tenants who became property owners over night and abolished the rules which stopped them from decorating and changing their homes to suit their own needs.
Reading an article by McVeigh in The Guardian published in 6th of December 2009, I found evidence of the psychical shadow that has been cast as a result of the 'new freedom' given out to people over the last 30 years. The statistics written by McVeigh (2009) were that 'council houses sold off passed the 2 million mark' which ultimately lead to the impact that 'people across Britain on waiting lists for a council house, up almost 10% in a year'.
Selling off public housing while failing to rebuild replacements and the added effect of the recession, which has put a stop to building new homes, has vastly reduced the number of houses available to a growing population of people who need them. The article also comments on how this was also 'abused widely by companies that made profits out of portfolios of ex-local authority housing' (McVeigh 2009).
Families without homes now struggle to live with the relatives that will take them in, or the state has to pay to keep them in a B&B's or privately rented homes until they can find alternative accommodation. This was in fact mine and my daughters situation 7 years ago.
People were so desperate to own a little piece of freedom that they have now effected the lives of their children and almost abolished the chance of them living in their own homes. Strange it may seem that recently it has been reported that the 'Right to Buy' scheme will be used again.
A new article released on the 19th of November 2011 in the Mail explained that up to 2 million tenants could buy their homes at a huge discounted rate as they were in the 1980's. The money will then be put back into the development of new housing and as reported by Groves (2011), 'The Government hopes that the new drive could result in another 100,000 homes being built, creating 200,000 jobs'.
The British Dream of idealism and materialism starts again, who knows where it will end this time?
References
McVeigh, T. (Sunday 6th December 2009) 30 years on, the right to buy revolution that still divides Britain's housing estates. The Guardian. (Online) Avaliable from http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/dec/06/right-to-buy-housing-thatcher (Accessed on 25/11/2011)
Groves, J. (19th November 2011) Half price council home: 2 million properties to be sold off as Government retvive Thatcher's 'Right to Buy' scheme. Mail. (Online) Avaliable from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2063513/Government-revive-Thatchers-Right-Buy-scheme-2m-council-houses-sold.html
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