Encouraging and enabling low‐income owner‐occupiers to maintain their homes

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to show that owner occupation has become the prevailing tenure in the UK with owners increasingly being seen as holding primary responsibility for the condition of their properties. The UK has had a long tradition of public sector enforcement and grant‐led intervention to help preserve the nation's private sector housing stock. Recent housing policy changes have subsumed earlier grant legislation and provided a general provision for “assistance” to help owner‐occupiers maintain and repair their own homes. Simultaneously, the role of local authorities continues to shift from provider to enabler of service, with greater discretion and an increased role for other agencies at local level.Design/methodology/approachThis paper shows the focus group discussions that were held in South London to explore what low‐income owner‐occupiers in an ethnically‐diverse area would find helpful from the local authority in carrying out maintenance and repair works to their homes.FindingsThis paper reveals that some of the wider policy options put forward by the government were not always what respondents favoured, but that many would like to carry out further maintenance and repairs, given the right resource and support opportunities.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper contains an exploratory study, limited to homeowners aged over 60.Practical implicationsThe paper suggests that a range of resource and support mechanisms are required for home‐owners to carry out works to their homes as private sector housing grants continue to decline.Originality/valueThe paper seeks to put national private sector housing renewal policy into strategic practice at local authority level in helping ensure that home‐owners receive the most appropriate means of assistance and support in carrying out works to their homes.