

By Cedric Boston (left), CEO, Unity Homes and Enterprise & Gareth Young (right), Knowledge Exchange and Impact Fellow, University of Sheffield
This article draws on the findings of a small study conducted by the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence (CaCHE) on behalf of Unity Homes and Enterprise and Communities that Work, which explores the important role housing associations can play in supporting tenants with their employment futures.
The original aim of social housing was to give people access to decent, affordable housing, meeting both their physical need for a home that is secure, safe, warm, and dry and to provide a springboard for them to improve other aspects of their lives, most notably health, wellbeing, and economic prospects. Over the last two decades there has been a significant shift from this dual-purpose role to today’s model where there is a greater expectation on Housing Associations (HAs) to drive the investment in the supply of new housing, to invest more in the maintenance of their housing stock, to decarbonise homes and to raise regulatory and governance standards, arguably at the expense of initiatives to transform the lives of existing tenants. While there is insufficient evidence of a causal link, the change is taking place at a time when tenants’ need for transformative support has never been greater. Indeed, the poor economic circumstances of social tenants is becoming difficult to ignore, and this situation is only reinforcing the stigmatisation of the sector (see IES report).
With the new government’s agenda for both ‘national renewal’ and to ‘make work pay’, we have conducted a small study, which shows that HAs can positively influence tenant lives, often without spending large sums of money, and a lot can be achieved by working to inform and raise tenant expectations and creating a trusted, and non-judgemental relationships with them. In this way HAs can enable and embolden disadvantaged people living in their properties, to improve their social and economic prospects.
Core missions and values
Accepting that the supply shortage of social housing is the main, long-term, priority for the sector, what should also rank high in terms of immediate action to improve the lives of social housing tenants?
There are many contenders, not least the investment needs of the stock, decarbonisation, and the raising of regulatory standards. It is hard to choose, but one critical area that is regularly omitted from the list of contenders for second place altogether is the apparent failure of social housing to improve tenants’ economic prospects and predictive life chances (see IES report). Its omission suggests it is less important than the others, but our study suggests it is still considered important, especially by tenants.
HAs that have a stronger focus on the broader needs of the people living in their properties, who play a wider role creating and facilitating opportunities for them and embrace the challenge of making a difference in people’s lives can have a significant impact. Considering the dual-purpose of social housing this study makes a compelling case, not for displacing one or more of the other secondary priorities, but for initiatives to transform tenant lives, ranking alongside them.
Pressures for social housing providers
We have explored the increased pressures facing HAs already in this article. From discussions with experts from across the housing sector there remains a mixed response to providing non-statutory services such as employment and business support. While there are many providers offering support, there was also a sense that some were stepping back from this to focus on increased pressures from recent regulation. There was also a consistent view that employment and business support should not necessarily be a mandate of a social housing provider, but also that there was an extraordinarily convincing case for why they should be thinking about this type of additional support because of the role they play in communities and their tenants’ lives. National Housing Federation report “A Home, a Job, a Future” (https://www.clarionhg.com/news-and-media/2022/06/10/a-home-a-job-a-future) outlined four reasons why housing providers are well-placed to offer this type of support: 1) they have uniquely personal relationships with their residents’ 2) they operate in some of the country’s most deprived areas; 3) they typically take a long-term approach to working with their residents and the communities in which their homes are based; and 4) they can be employers in their own right, with established supply chains which can provide further employment opportunities. Above all social housing tenants have the poorest economic performance, almost two times worse than the people living in the worst housing conditions in the private rented sector.
HA can make a difference without setting up employment support teams and creating skill development opportunities. Though these have good impacts, many social tenants are not work ready nor even looking for work because they often must overcome physical and psychological barriers to work. Typical physical barriers are carer responsibilities, chronic illness, or the cost of buying work clothes. Interestingly the study shows tackling the psychological barriers, such as lack of confidence, fear of discrimination, the absence of support or role models and anxiety can be more critical and low cost. This is about developing frontline staff and building a culture of support for social tenants that is in play every time we interact with them. Above all the sector may need to change its attitude towards social tenants to build up their confidence and esteem by regarding them as people with possibilities, rather than those with none, having high expectations of them and being able to support those who want to overcome the barriers they face and improve their lives.
An orchestra of service providers
There is no single way to tackle the issues that are wrapped up here. However, by considering people, and their needs, in a sympathetic way, providing a mechanism for those who need it to have someone who can offer sustained, non-judgemental support and mentoring can help people to feel like there is a “light at the end of the tunnel” (Unity Homes tenant). What was striking from this study was that through the individuals we interviewed who have used Unity Homes and Enterprise each story was different, and everyone’s background, experience and barriers required different support. These barriers coalesced around confidence and that feeling that there was no future for them. However, being able to have someone to speak with, who over time they could trust and build rapport, gave them hope and encouragement to carry on. For example, one tenant had been unsuccessful at a number of job interviews:
“I didn’t feel very empowered, and talking to someone else and telling them my story helped me become empowered.” (Employment service user)
By surrounding people with an ‘orchestra of service providers’ people can be supported to navigate barriers to employment. Who plays what role locally will vary depending on the nature of an area, the different anchor institutions (e.g. large organisation that is rooted in a local community and has a significant impact on its health and wellbeing of residents) that exist within this space and how areas are governed. There is an opportunity in the context of a continually growing devolution agenda for Combined Authorities to take the driving seat in helping to bring together all the different providers (including employers) who can play a vital role in people’s lives. With a trajectory of further devolution and greater autonomy over budgets, there could be more potential for creativity and flexibility over what can be commissioned. Even where areas are not operating under a devolution deal, local authorities can play a coordinating role, though it might be that a housing provider has more capacity. Either way, bringing providers together so that it is transparent what support and resources are available, whilst finding a mechanism for people to have someone to talk to, is a quick win for those people who need support right now. There also needs to be a space to share good practice more systematically and make sure this is accessible to those in roles that can have influence, so people can learn about the diverse ways to approach these complex issues.
What can HAs do right away?
There are a number of things that HAs can do right now, drawing on this study, plus other reports from across the sector (see Better Social Housing Review). In brief, these include: going back to basics and putting tenants at the heart of what HAs do, and listening to them as ‘valued partners’; making sure tenants get ‘health checks’ which provide a chance for HAs to talk openly with tenants about their wider lives, as this can help to identify where support is needed; with resources tight, HAs should think about support that can help motivate and build confidence to help people who are able to, to get back into work or training[1]; and understand that for some tenants, it will be a long journey, but if they are able and willing to take up support, HAs should continue to use resources to support these tenants.
Reference
[1] There’s a complex hand up vs hand out argument. Participants in this study discussed the importance of non-judgemental support to help them ‘see light at the end of the tunnel’. These tenants also sometimes needed immediate financial support too.