Anyone, regardless of financial situation can apply for council (local authority) housing, the landlord is the council and there are more rights there than with a private sector landlord. The council can't kick out tenants easily and so long as they're paying the rent (whether that be by benefits or earned income) and behaving nicely, all is well. Private landlords can evict tenants horribly easily which can leave alot of people in the lurch.
The right to buy council housing is not everywhere, some councils have pressured housing status which means no one can buy their council house.
Waiting lists are very long, ten years in some cases but if someone becoems homeless and it's not something of their own doing, then the council is obliged to house them in a B&B for 14 days before moving them on to emergency accommodation which can be anywhere within a local authority (so hundreds of square miles) and will remain there until somewhere permenant comes up. Being homeless does not entitle someone to the first house that appears, only 50% of housing goes to those who are homeless.
The council aren't out to make a huge profit per se, so the rent is usually less; housing benefit can be awarded to go towards rent in a private property or in a council or housing association property (like council, but independently run); benefit can be paid direct to the claimant or to the landlord.
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