Round-up of UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence projects

In line with the strategy’s basis of accountability and inclusion, the researchers interviewed tenants in Calgary to find out about their experiences. Most of the tenants had moved in because they could not afford market prices; in fact, many had previously been homeless. More than a third were unable to work, with the great majority reporting mental and physical health problems.

Most tenants reported having less financial strain since moving in, and some had more money available. They also reported better self-esteem, hope, safety, and education for their children. A third said their employment situation had improved.

But this was not universally the case: about one in five reported worsening of their employment situation, more stress, and more discrimination.

The researchers conclude that while there were benefits, moving into affordable housing was not a solution in itself: many of the tenants also needed significant support. They were still dealing with mental and physical health problems, not being able to find a job, language barriers, and lack of transport. To overcome these, tailored interventions would be needed, and this capacity must be built up.

The researchers found the tenants had long term aspirations around employment and moving into market housing, but these were often a long way off. The tenants felt they were likely to be living in affordable housing for the foreseeable future.

Is the right to housing being realized in Canada? Learning from the experiences of tenants in affordable housing units in a large Canadian city Kaylee Ramage, Meaghan Bell, Lisa Zaretsky, Laura Lee and Katrina Milaney Societies 2021, 11, 53. https://doi.org/10.3390/ soc11020053

The last year or so has thrown up a lot of new challenges for researchers in housing studies, as well as highlighting issues that have concerned us for some time – such as the impact that housing can have on people’s physical and mental health and wellbeing, writes Gareth Young.

At CaCHE we immediately turned our focus to the pandemic, exploring different dimensions of housing and what Covid-19 might mean. In our series, Housing policies and the Covid-19 pandemic, we spent time trying to make sense of what the evidence tells us, examining international comparisons as well as divergence within the UK.

These projects ranged widely from exploring the impacts of the pandemic on the economy and housing market, the impact on housing and placemaking, the resilience of housing systems and their institutions, as well as the impacts (and future learning) from the responses to homelessness, domestic abuse, and the private rented sector.

We have also been doing a significant piece of work on raising the standard in the UK private rented sector, in collaboration with the TDS Charitable Foundation and the SafeDeposits Scotland Charitable Trust. Ongoing projects are looking at energy efficiency and housing and wellbeing.

As these projects come to a close, we are taking this learning and moving onto our next phase of research. Building on both the Delivering Design Value and The potential role of modular construction in addressing systemic supply issues (forthcoming) projects, the two respective teams are embarking on a collaborative project examining the livedexperience and post-occupancy evaluation in the UK’s new build housing sector. Of particular interest is in understanding if post-occupancy evaluations can provide a robust evidence base for improving the design and sustainability outcomes of the volume housebuilding industry.

We will be partnering with Crisis to begin to explore social housing allocations, producing new evidence to influence local and national government policy and practice, focusing on allocation practices to improve access to accommodation for low income, at risk of homelessness, and homeless households.

With the ongoing concern surrounding the UK ‘cladding scandal’ we have started a project with UK Cladding Action Group, to help understand the mental wellbeing impacts that leaseholders have experienced. This will give a voice to the experiences of those living in buildings affected, with an aim of identifying recommendations and actions for different stakeholder groups.

There will be an exploratory project on the future environment facing the housing system – both at