Brighton has had a housing problem for almost its whole existence. For centuries there have been too few homes and often they have been in poor condition.

When Brighton was no more than a poor fishing village, a miserable set of squalid homes were huddled together, occasionally falling into the sea as the soft, unprotected cliffs crumbled.

Although many grand homes were built in the 18th and 19th centuries, they were not made to last and some of the worst conditions today are in flats at Regency mansions.

The terraced houses built for working people were often cramped, damp and miserable. They were also packed in close together with no gardens.

Even today the square mile of Brighton south of Elm Grove is the most densely populated in southern England outside London.

Philanthropists and pubic spirited men and women were concerned about the appalling conditions is which most Brightonians lived.

Buildings such as the Percy and Wagner Almshouses near Hanover Crescent and the Williamson Cottage Homes in Portland Road, Hove, made a small but valuable contribution. Few of the bigger housing providers like the Peabody Trust reached Brighton at that time.

The first council houses were built in the late 19th century near the top of Elm Grove and still stand today. But the real explosion in public low-rent housing came after the First World War.

Homes were built in the suburbs in places such as Moulsecoomb to cater for people in need. Each was provided with an allotment sized rear gardens for growing vegetables.

The old slums were pulled down in a process lasting 40 years until the 1960s. They were mainly in the Edward Street area. Few missed the houses but many mourned the loss of camaraderie.

Tower blocks sprang up in their place but with little thought given to their appearance. They were also no good for young children. The tallest one, near Brighton Station, was called Theobald House after the energetic housing chairman.

After a decade or more Brighton Council went for low-rise flats and also replaced the homes at Whitehawk with new houses at a much higher density.

Organisations such as Brighton Housing Trust and the YMCA helped house the homeless, particularly single people. St Patrick’s Church in Cambridge Road, Hove, became a night shelter.

During the post-war period, hundreds of new homes were built in Hangleton, Hollingdean and Woodingdean on former downland.

But eventually this stopped and it became increasingly hard to find sites for new homes in a resort hemmed in by the Downs, the sea and neighbouring towns. Hove had even less land.

All sorts of solutions were suggested. Scores of people built their own homes, often concentrating on environmental issues. Housing co-operatives proliferated.

Demand from students for homes led to even more pressure for housing although both Brighton and Sussex built extensively in their own campuses.

Increasingly privately-owned houses were occupied by people on housing benefit or rented by buy-to-let landlords.

Many people found that the only answer was to move somewhere cheaper and this process has accelerated over the years leaving Brighton to those who can afford its raffish charms.