Devolution and Housing Associations in Great Britain: Enhancing Organisational Accountability?

Abstract

This paper evaluates, through a fourfold framework, the extent to which devolution in Great Britain has enhanced the organisational accountability of housing associations three years after the creation of the Scottish Parliament and National Assembly for Wales. The evaluation framework examines the goals set for social housing organisations, the processes by which they are set, and the ways in which goals are monitored and enforced. The assessment reveals that, whilst it would be a mistake to suggest that housing policies and administrative frameworks have been traditionally monolithic across Britain, there is evidence that they are now diverging further, and that policy priorities for housing associations are coming to reflect local circumstances and locally-determined decisions to a greater extent than hitherto. The utility of the evaluation framework is thus demonstrated. It is concluded that the organisational accountability of housing associations has been enhanced alongside, and, to some extent, as a result of, devolution.