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Of course, because it interfered with already-rich people being able to get richer without doing any work, Thatcher hated it and got rid of it.

She got rid of it by opening up public housing to private ownership, depleting the public stock and turning a generation of richer than average residents into a landlord class for the subsequent generations.

So now you're stuck with a privatized stock of homes and properties through which enormous wealth is channeled. And politicians don't dare challenge that pile of cash.

Boston is in a similar state. Enormous amounts of property owned by vanishingly few people. Elected Reps have a big financial incentive to keep the landlords happy.