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Our team from the University of Sheffield, with Kim McKee at the University of Stirling, explored housing exclusion in the English rental market. We know that around 8.4 million people in England are affected by the housing crisis, with one in seven now living in unaffordable, overcrowded, insecure and unsuitable homes (National Housing Federation, 2019). Our research aimed to understand the perceptions of key stakeholders in the social and private rented sectors in England.
Participants emphasised that housing exclusion was worsening, with growing numbers facing limited housing options, or no access to decent housing at all. This is not felt equally – young people, BAME groups and low-income households experienced the most constraint in their housing choices. Geography is also crucial, due to diverging policy and practice across the UK.
Our research identified a number of macro-drivers of exclusion, including:
• Lack of affordable, appropriate, secure housing
• Changes to funding for the development of social housing
• Welfare reforms which have restricted access to housing
• Lack of regulation in the private rented sector (PRS) and limited regulation in the social rented sector
• Challenges in accessing appropriate support
• Interaction of housing and immigration policy
Our report also details the diverse mechanisms through which exclusion is operationalised:
• Systems of access in social housing: we found greater negotiation between housing associations and local authorities over the rights to allocate properties, whilst choice-based lettings systems were viewed as complex and focused on process over personal needs. Some housing associations used platforms such as Rightmove to advertise to a ‘wider pool’ of people in order to allocate ‘hard-to-let’ properties
• Private landlord pre-tenancy checks: these highlight the power imbalance and profit-motive at the heart of the PRS. For those who cannot pass them (due to low/insecure incomes, bad debt, or receipt of welfare benefits) there are few options when social housing is scarce
• Social landlord pre-tenancy checks: affordability checks are also used by social landlords; our participants feel that assessments are becoming more stringent. This is partly driven by pressures on social landlords to balance their social role alongside the need for ‘sustainable’ tenancies, underpinned by appropriate levels of welfare and/or tenancy support
• Technology: technological advances are changing how landlords decide who they let to, for example through credit checks and products such as ‘the credit ladder’, which helps tenants build a credit score through timely rent payment
• Tenancy conduct: some landlords (private and social) visit potential tenants to assess their lifestyle, housekeeping and current property condition, representing further mechanisms through which access to housing is restricted
It is vital that housing sector stakeholders work together to deliver person-centred approaches to ensure access to appropriate housing across varied local and regional housing markets. But this local action needs to be paralleled by the (re) reform of the welfare system, which is a key driver of current patterns of exclusion. Everyone deserves a safe, secure and affordable home, but unless we tackle these challenges we risk failing to reach this aim.