I think the seventies is a poor example, partly because the high interest rates meant that (even to buy a cheaper house) the inflation adjusted cost per month was higher than it is now, and partly because the percentage of owner-occupiers was lower than it is now. Low interest rates area major...
If that's the case, then surely virtually every other era in this country would have been far more cruel and selfish? People had far less money and possessions in every era pre-Thatcher, at least.
Do you think that food banks are run by society? I don't. I think it's as Margaret Thatcher said in the interview that you quote, that individual men and women are running the food banks. Not "society".