Social Housing Tenants Research Articles

The wellbeing needs of social housing tenants in Australia: an exploratory study

BackgroundSocial housing provides homes for some of the most vulnerable in society. Those in social housing often have complex issues that may require support. Limited research has examined the unmet needs of those living in social housing from the tenant perspective. This exploratory study aimed to embark on filling this gap.MethodsA cross-sectional study survey of adult social housing tenants in New South Wales, Australia. Consenting tenants completed a survey asking about their support needs across five domains: transport, employment and financial stress; housing and safety; health and health behaviour; access to services; and control over one’s life. Negative binomial regression analysis was used to examine associations between the mean number of support needs and characteristics.ResultsOf the 104 tenants invited, 101 agreed to participate (97%) of which 100 completed the survey. Paying unexpected bills’ (43%), feeling sad or anxious (40%), feelings of anger or frustration (34%), and memory or concentration problems (33%) were the most prevalent reported needs. Other needs included antisocial behaviour from neighbours (31%) and having control in the direction your life is taking (27%). Seventy-five percent of tenants reported at least one need, with an average of seven needs across the sample (median 5.5, range 0–24). Tenants who identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander had a higher number of needs compared to other tenants (RR 1.87 95% CI 1.08 to 3.35).ConclusionsMore research describing tenant wellbeing needs is required to guide initiatives improving tenant wellbeing. Development of a standardised tool to measure and prioritise tenant wellbeing needs would be beneficial. There is a need for well-controlled research to establish the potential effectiveness and cost effectiveness of initiatives implemented at the policy or housing provider level. Future research must consider the multifaceted needs of this population. Further, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are generally overrepresented in social housing in Australia, and in this study Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tenants reported a higher number of needs compared to non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tenants. Given this, future research should ensure measurement tools or strategy initiatives are culturally sensitive and appropriate, and are developed in collaboration with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

Household tenure and its associations with multiple long-term conditions amongst working age adults: a cross-sectional analysis using linked primary care and local government records

BackgroundThe increasing number of individuals living with multiple long-term conditions (MLTCs) is a huge public health challenge both globally and in the UK. MLTCs are more prevalent, have earlier onset, and are more likely to include mental health conditions for residents of more deprived areas. However, the influence of household-level social determinants of health have received little attention. This is despite evidence suggesting that risk factors for MLTCs cluster within households.
 We aimed to quantify associations between household tenure – whether someone privately rents, rents from social housing, or owns their property – and different definitions of MLTCs amongst working age adults.
 MethodsThis cross-sectional study used the 2019/2020 wave of a novel dataset linking individual and household data across health services and local government for a deprived borough in North East London. Three definitions of MLTCs were operationalised: basic MLTCs (defined as two or more long-term conditions within an individual), physical-mental MLTCs (basic MLTCs where one condition is physical and one is depression or anxiety), and complex MLTCs (three or more long-term conditions affecting three or more different bodily systems). Multilevel logistic regression modelling was used to explore associations between tenure and MLTCs prevalence for working age adults (16-64 years old, inclusive).
 FindingsPrevalence of basic, physical-mental and complex MLTCs was 18.0%, 4.8% and 6.0%, respectively. In unadjusted analyses, prevalence of all definitions of MLTCs was greater with increasing age, for women and individuals of white ethnicity. Compared to working age owner-occupiers, odds of basic MLTCs were 36% higher for social housing tenants (OR 1.36, 95% CI 1.31-1.42) and 21% lower for private renters (OR 0.79, 95% CI 0. 75-0.83) after adjusting for a range of health behaviours, and socioeconomic and demographic factors. Results were consistent across MLTCs definitions, although stronger for social housing tenants with physical-mental MLTCs.
 ConclusionsThis study finds strong evidence that household tenure is associated with MLTCs, emphasising the importance of understanding and addressing household-level determinants of health. Our findings suggest that resources to prevent and tackle MLTCs could be differentially targeted by tenure type and that working age adults are an important population to consider in preventative strategies that address social determinants of health. Further research should employ longitudinal research methods to assess causal relationships between household social determinants such as tenure and prevalence of MLTCs.

Drivers of financial well-being in socio-economic deprived populations

This paper draws on qualitative and quantitative data from social housing tenants in Ireland, exploring how the subjective experience of financial well-being can be understood, and correlating this experience to behavioural and contextual factors. The findings suggest that despite working within tight budgeting constraints, residents are self-disciplined in living within their means, put aside money for unplanned expenditure, and “do without” when money runs out. Residents are using mobile phones predominantly to shop and check bank balances, with online banking used to access traditional payment instruments (e.g. Direct Debits) for fixed outgoings, to receive incoming revenue and to save. There is little evidence that residents get value from personal finance management tools. Instead, we conclude that financial well-being is a set of behaviours, necessitating self-discipline and control to avoid unsustainable indebtedness. The design of financial services should take the lived experience of citizens into account, in particular promoting resilience through savings instead of credit.

Combining self-reported and sensor data to explore the relationship between fuel poverty and health well-being in UK social housing

Linking novel real-time sensor data with comprehensive individual baseline survey data, this study estimates the effect of fuel poverty on the physical and mental health of social housing tenants in the southwest of the UK. Structural equation modeling is applied to show that fuel poverty has a significant negative effect on mental health. Other socio-economic characteristics (such as age, household size) and house characteristics (e.g., energy-efficient rating, house type) are associated with fuel poverty. Fuel poverty is also related to poorer mobility. Our results suggest that special attention should be paid to tenants with disabilities and chronic diseases since they are more vulnerable to fuel poverty and health issues.

Rehousing older social housing tenants: a mixed-methods study

BackgroundIn the context of a social housing crisis, partly caused by insufficient affordable homes, the UK must meet the housing needs of an ageing population. Rehousing schemes run by social housing providers are an important means to support older (>55 years) tenants to move to appropriate homes. Hackney Council (London, UK) runs or supports many of these schemes. This study aims to assess how well the schemes are working by exploring the processes involved and their health-related outcomes. MethodsIn this mixed-methods study, we interviewed practice-based stakeholders who work across four rehousing schemes in Hackney. A postal survey was delivered to older social housing tenants who had moved through one of the schemes. Responses to the survey questions were analysed in Excel. A photovoice component (ie, photographs taken by participants that were discussed in interviews and focus groups) of survey respondents captured their experiences of being rehoused and its health-related effects. Written consent was obtained from all participants. Ethical approval was obtained from the Ethics Committee of the University of Cambridge School of the Humanities and Social Sciences. FindingsSince June 4, 2020, we interviewed 14 practice-based stakeholders and surveyed 798 older tenants. We had 75 (9·4%) valid responses, of which 31 respondents were women, 10 were men, and two preferred not to say (there was missing data for 32 respondents). 16 survey respondents then participated in the photovoice group. Interviews with practice-based stakeholders were analysed using NVivo (version 12) and highlighted the importance of providing personalised support to tenants. Several outcomes were reported by stakeholders, including increased social connectedness, and improved tenant wellbeing. Challenges included there being insufficient suitable homes for tenants to move into, and problems posed by COVID-19. The survey identified positive elements (eg, being given choices) and challenges (eg, poor communication) in the rehousing process. It also identified beneficial outcomes (eg, having a warmer home without stairs) and unwelcome outcomes (eg, increased loneliness). The photovoice component and data collection with non-movers provided detailed additional insights, some captured in visual material (eg, one tenant described the community activism that had led to the restoration of an old football pitch on the site). InterpretationThe findings will inform efforts by social housing providers to optimise the rehousing experiences of older social housing tenants and maximise health-related outcomes. This will be achieved through extensive engagement with practice-based stakeholders, including through an end-of-project photovoice exhibition and a national stakeholder workshop. FundingNIHR School for Public Health Research.

Coding Engines in Participatory Social Housing Design—A Case to Revisit Pattern Languages

Participation has been touted as a critical instrument for both citizen empowerment and responsibility-sharing in sustainability. In architecture, participation allows for the progression of green building to sustainable habitation that integrates environmental, economic, and social dimensions. However, participation in practice rarely delegates meaningful decisions to marginalized groups and is mostly a one-sided process. This study seeks to investigate which factors of the participatory method afford both empowerment and behavioral change to a sustainable lifestyle in low-income groups. To do so, a case study of designing a social housing estate in Hungary is presented, where participatory design was used to codevelop a building that considers and adjusts to the sustainable lifestyle envisioned by the future residents. A coding engine based on the concept of pattern languages was developed that places conditions and experience of everyday activities at the center of design, translating them to spatial features. As a result, a focus group of social housing tenants and cohousing experts were able to define explicit shared spaces, allocate square meters to them, and articulate legible design criteria. Of the early-stage design decisions, 45% were made with or by the participants, and the bilateral process made it possible to convince the tenants to adopt a more sustainable habitation format.

The deresidualisation of social housing in England: change in the relative income, employment status and social class of social housing tenants since the 1990s

The process of the ‘residualisation’ of social housing, in terms of residents’ income, employment status and class relative to the rest of the population, is one of the best known trends of the housing system in the UK and in many other nations over the past half century. The idea of residualisation and the presumption of its inevitability have become widely accepted, and formed a negative frame for social housing policy. However Pearce and Vine (2014) have shown that in terms of income, the residualisation of social housing in England stopped in 1991. This paper confirms and extends that work using multiple published data sources. These show consistent evidence of convergence over the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s between social tenants and the English national averages in terms of not only income but also employment status and class. Potential explanations, including the restructuring of housing markets, demographic change, and changing labour markets, are briefly explored. Most recently, there some signs that deresidualisation itself may have stopped.

The formation of houzing classes, institutions of shared property and general meeting as a result of houzing privatization in Russia

Housing privatization, which began in Russia in the early 1990s. after the collapse of the USSR, was the result of the transformation of the socio-economic system of housing and communal services during which housing classes were formed (owners of premises in apartment buildings, tenants of social housing and apartment tenants), as well as socio-economic and socio-legal institutions of shared property and the general meeting. The article proposes an approach to the analysis of new institutional structures of society, based on the concept of housing classes by J. Rex and R. Moore, the theory of social multitude by M. Hardt, A. Negri and P. Virno, models of common resource management by E. Ostrom and M. Olson, as well as the classification of the participation process by I. Skalaban. In the course of the study individual hypotheses and conclusions of the representative of the Novosibirsk economic-sociological school O.E. Bessonova, who studied the problems and prospects of privatization, were analyzed.

Loneliness and housing tenure: Older private renters and social housing tenants in Australia

Loneliness is recognised as one the most pressing issues of the contemporary period and, if left untreated, can have serious health implications. We argue that a key determinant of loneliness for older people (65 plus) in Australia dependent on the government Age Pension for their income is their housing tenure. Drawing on semi-structured in-depth interviews, we show that older Australians who are private renters are far more likely than their counterparts in social housing to experience loneliness. The high cost of their accommodation results in private renters having no resources for socialising and the possibility that they can be asked to vacate at any time evokes much anxiety. These features make retaining social ties extremely difficult and many experience loneliness. In contrast, the manageable rent of older social housing tenants and guaranteed security of tenure creates a foundation for social engagement and maintaining strong friendships.

‘Active, young, and resourceful’: sorting the ‘good’ tenant through mechanisms of conditionality

Governments’ attempts to link the provision of welfare services to (more) responsible self-conduct of citizens (i.e. responsibilization) is seen as a distinctive feature of the post-welfare state. Responsibilization often requires welfare receivers to comply with specific duties or behavioural patterns (i.e. conditionality). Except for UK-based studies, little is known about responsibilization strategies of social housing tenants based on specific allocation policies or management approaches. To fill this gap, this paper examines recent cases of tenants’ responsibilization through conditionality, i.e. allocation of housing on the condition that receivers regularly engage in supportive activities, in Utrecht (The Netherlands) and Milan (Italy). Through a qualitative methodology, this paper unpacks the use of conditionality as a means to increase tenants’ responsibilization. The paper contributes by showing both innovative aspects, such as eligibility criteria, obligations, accountability measures, and potential pitfalls connected to diverging expectations between tenants and professionals, and to specific context-related factors.

Patterns of distributive justice: social housing and the search for market dynamism in Amsterdam

Housing policy changes in the Netherlands have been in line with OECD and IMF policy advice to increase market dynamism by downsizing the large social rental sector. The impact of such policies on households, however, is rarely acknowledged. Therefore, in this article, distributive effects on social housing tenants in Amsterdam between 2004 and 2014 are evaluated against two standards for distributive justice: sufficiency and priority. These standards befit the policy aim to provide adequate (sufficient) housing for households with a certain need (priority). The analysis shows housing policies have amplified the impacts of the global financial crisis on households. The occurrence of sufficiency increased significantly until 2008, but decreased thereafter. In regards of the priority standard more households with a significant need benefitted from social housing after 2008. However, many of these households still do not meet the sufficiency threshold. While spatial patterns remained rather stable, the impact has been greater in the areas with already relatively low residual incomes.

Understanding social housing tenants' rent payment behaviour: evidence from Great Britain

The Governments of many Western countries have been increasingly concerned with influencing the behaviour of their citizens. One way that they have done this is by giving them new responsibilities. In the UK, an example of this is ‘direct payment' which sees social housing tenants in receipt of income-related housing allowance (‘Housing Benefit') assuming responsibility for paying their rent. Drawing on a comprehensive data-set generated by the direct payment pilot evaluation, this paper examines tenants' rent payment behaviour. It draws on a conceptual framework from behavioural science - COM-B - which presents behaviour (B) as a result of the interaction between the capabilities (C) of subjects, the opportunity (O) they have to enact behaviours, and their motivation (M). Tenants' behaviour was influenced by all elements of the model, with it being more than just a consequence of opportunity, and their financial circumstances, specifically, although it was the most important one.

How housing tenure drives household care strategies and practices

ABSTRACT Motivated by growing policy and research emphasis on the economic care values of housing (which assume homeownership), this paper investigates how housing figures within household care strategies and practices across tenure. We place housing in two broader frames. First, we attend to the care values of housing, conceptualising the purpose and value of housing across tenure through a political ethic of care. Second, we place housing within broader geographical imaginaries of housing and home, attending to how care practices are negotiated within and through the house-as-home. We then bring together two distinct but connected in-depth qualitative case studies, both located in metropolitan Sydney, Australia, to identify the affective, temporal and material dimensions of care and bring focus to the care work and opportunities that owner-occupied, private and social rented housing afford to residents. Tenure intervenes in possibilities for household caring. It is most fully actualised through secure ownership and inhibited for renters and social housing tenants. Evaluating affordances and constraints of tenure and how they drive household care strategies is crucial in a political climate where the care securities of homeownership are prioritised. It demonstrates the limits of liberal care philosophies and raises questions around attributions of care responsibility.

24 Hour Choir: Towards a Civic Ethics in Improvisation

24 Hour Choir was a participatory sound project in which over one hundred members of the public sustained the human voice, uninterrupted, across an entire day. The location was the politically fraught area of The Rocks in Sydney, Australia, from which long-standing social housing tenants had recently been evicted. 24 Hour Choir responded to this situation by establishing a sonic means to build solidarity. Singers followed several open-ended instructions that required them to develop individual cooperative strategies inducing a form of civic duty. The results, sonically influenced by the shifting ambience of the city, became a real-time mapping of social relations. 24 Hour Choir is part of the project Super Critical Mass which brings together temporary communities to undertake shared sonic actions in public spaces. Each event is a structured improvisation in which participants’ skills become the parameters for a memorised, behavioural algorithm, extending precedents by Cornelius Cardew and Pauline Oliveros.

Space of energy well‐being: Social housing tenants’ everyday experiences of fuel poverty

This paper contributes to geographical perspectives on energy justice by arguing for the concept of “spaces of energy well‐being.” We build on the concepts of capabilities, home, and emotional embodiment to offer an understanding of the spatiality of well‐being. The paper draws on empirical material from a study conducted with social housing tenants in Port Kembla, Australia, following recent energy price increases. Interviews illustrate that social housing tenants engaged in reducing domestic energy consumption occupy a paradoxical space of well‐being. We argue that energy bills are lived and felt daily through bodies as anxiety, given that participants experience social housing as a therapeutic and safe place that allows possibilities to refashion the self. We better understand the dynamics of pride and shame from limiting energy use. Our analysis suggests that essential to understanding the ways social housing tenants relate to uneven access to fuel is as an emotionally embodied home making and unmaking practice.

Exploring the relationship between housing concerns, mental health and wellbeing: a qualitative study of social housing tenants.

BackgroundThe rising prevalence of mental health problems is a growing public health issue. Poor mental health is not equally distributed across social groups and is associated with poverty and insecure housing. An evaluation of a social housing intervention provided an opportunity to explore the connections between housing and wider determinants of health and wellbeing.MethodsWe undertook 44 interviews with social housing tenants over a two-year period to explore their views on housing, health and wellbeing.ResultsPoor mental health was common. The results suggest that perceptions of housing quality, service responsiveness, community safety, benefit changes and low income all have a detrimental effect on tenants’ mental health.ConclusionsSocial housing providers who wish to have a positive impact on the mental health of their tenants need to consider how to best support or mitigate the impact of these stresses. Addressing traditional housing officer functions such as reporting or monitoring home repairs alongside holistic support remains an important area where social housing departments can have substantial health impact. Tackling the complex nature of mental health requires a joined up approach between housing and a number of services.

The construction of social housing pathways across Australia

Housing pathways describe the changing experience of housing by tenants and their households over time and space. The impact of the transformation of social housing in recent years on these pathways is not well understood, and we investigate it in this report. Accessing and securing social housing is dependent on a range of eligibility criteria, with housing allocated on a priority needs basis. In some jurisdictions, having a low income alone does not guarantee eligibility for social housing. Living in social housing means that one’s housing can be subject to periodic eligibility reviews, which can also be triggered by (mis)use of premises or by changing household circumstances. For example, an increase in household income, the expansion of a household or when a household member needs to leave due to family violence. The way these issues are monitored and assessed across jurisdictions directly shapes the housing pathways of social housing tenants. Moves within social housing can be tenant-initiated or landlord-initiated. Tenant-initiated transfers are most likely to result from changing household circumstances, and landlord-initiated transfers from portfolio or tenancy management. Both tenant and landlord-initiated transfers are constrained by the wider policy context, specifically, a shortage of suitable alternative housing stock to transfer households to. Moves out of social housing may also be tenant or landlord-initiated. Previous research has demonstrated that regardless of who initiated the move, tenants often return to the social housing system. Returns to social housing are compounded by the increasing proportion of tenants with complex needs who are likely to require support to live in private housing. The lack of affordable and appropriate housing alternatives to social housing also increases pressure on the sector, including from tenants returning to the sector who have previously left. Many of the operational policies that shape housing pathways have been introduced in the context of sustained high demand and a lack of supply. They are therefore arguably designed to manage wait lists by rationing supply. While we are yet to explore the tenant experience of social housing pathways, reimagining social housing pathways likely requires a greater policy focus on ensuring positive outcomes for households. © Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute Limited 2019.

Homes Too Large for Household Needs? Under-Occupancy as Policy Problem and Lived Experience among Older Social Housing Tenants

ABSTRACT Rising demand for social housing has induced housing authorities to find ways to increase the utilisation of existing housing stock, including targeting households thought to be living in homes that are larger than they need. This “under-occupation” of social housing is common among older tenants who, as with other under-occupiers, have been subject to unpopular measures designed to encourage downsizing. Yet little attention has been given to the housing needs of under-occupying older tenants and the ability of the social housing sector to meet those needs. In reviewing a new housing initiative for older under-occupying social housing tenants in Brisbane, Australia, this paper explores the housing needs and experience of this cohort. It shows that under-occupancy is a lived experience for some tenants and that downsizing to a smaller property is an attractive, albeit limited option. This suggests that policy prescriptions about the problem of older under-occupiers in the social housing sector should be reframed around the issue of tenants housing needs as they age.

Emotions and fuel poverty: The lived experience of social housing tenants in the United Kingdom

Dominant policy understandings of fuel poverty tend to overlook its lived experience. This results in narrow, technical problem framings that neglect the multiple, inter-related and dynamic factors that shape everyday experiences of energy consumption. Consequently, the concept of energy vulnerability has been used as the basis of recent qualitative work that has begun to recognise the importance of subjective experiences but, to date, emotions have not been central to such analyses. This paper explores a range of emotional engagements with energy vulnerability. The paper draws on new empirical data taken from 16 semi-structured interviews with social housing tenants as well as 10 interviews and a focus group (n=8) with housing association employees. Two broad ways in which emotions shape experiences of energy vulnerability are highlighted. First, how fear, worry and care practices shape patterns of energy use and payment. Second, how care, embarrassment, stigma and trust can facilitate or prevent the receipt of support for energy vulnerable households. Crucially, and for the first time, the paper shows that emotions are not merely a consequence of energy vulnerability but can also contribute to and shape it. The paper concludes with a discussion of the policy and research implications of these findings.

Tracing the socio-spatial logics of transnational landlords’ real estate investment: Blackstone in Madrid

The rapid internationalisation of the Spanish property market has triggered debates about the main characteristics of emerging post-crisis urban dynamics. Financial and urban policy reforms have shaped a model depicted by incessant rent increases and displacements. Echoing these concerns, this article addresses two interconnected objectives about the way policy restructuring encouraged transnational investments into Spanish real estate and the concomitant socio-spatial effects this wider asset reshuffling has produced. Both queries are discussed by pinpointing the multi-scalar investment strategies of the private equity firm, Blackstone, which emerged as the predominant institutional investor during the recovery phase of the Spanish property market. The article initially sketches out the trajectory of the political economy of housing in Spain, and then it focuses on the strategies pursued by Blackstone for the acquisition of real estate and housing stock. The following sections connect the nodes of the financial chain that link this investor to former social housing tenants whose homes are by now owned by Blackstone. The spatial and social effects of this change in property ownership demonstrate the importance of in-depth research about the financial nodes that interplay with and shape the post-crisis urban condition in and beyond Southern Europe.