The fu.ck up was Right To Buy. Not the principle of it but the fact that the money earned from the sales was not allowed, by law, to replenish stocks thus creating a shortage of decent social housing and driving rents through the roof in the private sector.
Oddly enough, for many middle earners, housing costs aren't the biggest out goings, childcare is. I know plenty whose childcare costs are 50%+ higher that their mortgages.