A housing crisis was prevalent during this time, due to housing shortage and an unequal distribution of houses. The government started building new houses and giving them to civilians in need. Local councils were in charge of distributing these houses, but because these councils were Protestant controlled, the councils would only give these new houses to other Protestant people. This occurrence was especially bad in Derry, even though Derry was majority Catholic. One example of this is when a whole Catholic family was need of a house, but it instead was given to a single Protestant woman. This was a prevent issue when the civil rights movement began. Some actions taken by the protesters were squatting in houses that were given to Protestants, so the new people would not be able to move in.
A reason why this occurred was due to the government system set in place, the only people who could vote were people who owned land, thus this was another reason why Catholics were discriminated in during the housing crisis. If the councils gave houses to Catholics, more Catholics would be able to vote and maybe become the majority in such places as Derry.
Housing given to Protestants over Catholics was not a mistake, Protestants were very afraid of Catholics and were cautious of what they would do if they would be able to have a say in the government. This housing situation then in turn made the Catholics fearful of their situation in the society. They were living in terrible conditions and the government system set in place was doing nothing to help them. This made them anxious of their future in Northern Ireland. Catholics were also anxious about how they would never have a vote in the government that controlled their lives because they would not be allowed to own property.