The concept of the state as a housing provider is currently under similar attack in Germany as in many other countries. Housing programs are being gradually abolished, municipally owned apartments are being privatized, and large estates of standardized blocks – the most conspicuous architectural type that the state housing policy generated during the 1950s and 1960s – are regarded poorly.

At the same time, social housing was a full success. Since the 1970s, the housing situation for the majority was better than at any time in history both in terms of space and personal comfort. Concomi-tantly with the establishment of the welfare state and the growth of a middle class society since the 1950s, utter poverty disappeared and the gap between rich and poor narrowed. Compared to coun-tries such as France and the US, German social housing estates to date are well integrated.

Focusing mainly on the development in West Germany, this paper will show that success and failure of social housing were intrinsically connected and depended on local specificities, namely the broad cultural acceptance of state intervention, the impoverishment of formerly wealthy classes as a result of the Second World War, and a comparable demographic stability. It will also present a critical as-sessment of current policies toward the legacy of modernist mass housing estates, including demoli-tion, rehabilitation, and architectural restructuring.