What is social housing?

I was halfway through working on my 'surveys' post on Digibored, when I realised that I’ve not actually described the social housing sector despite mentioning it frequently in this blog. So I’m course correcting and giving a short insight into what the social housing sector is. Digibored is about using technology and communication to improve and develop organisations. And I think it’s important to contextualise these topics, so I’m course correcting to set the scene for this blog.  

This post is a brief outline of what social housing is and I will be doing a follow up post on the history of social housing. Consider them my prequels to my earlier post called social housing 2.0.

So, what is social housing?

Simply put, social housing is housing usually owned by councils, housing association or other not for profit organisations such as cooperatives. These organisations provide affordable rental accommodation to vulnerable people and those on a low income (Directgov, n.d.; BBC, 2007).

Almost 1 in 5 people in England live in social housing. Traditionally social housing customers have experienced limited mobility due to demand for social housing exceeding supply. Because there is so much demand for social housing, it’s allocated according to need. Preference is given to the more vulnerable sectors of our society with a sliding scale used to rate housing need. The more points an applicant has on the rating system, the higher they are on the ‘housing list’ (Local Governments Association 2008; Shelter, 2011; Survey of English Housing 2008)

Who owns it?

Social housing is often perceived as ‘council housing’ by the average person, a point I picked up on in social housing 2.0, but in reality social housing is owned and managed by several different types of organisations. For example in central Manchester, there are 67,420 social housing properties. The following table highlights the different types of companies that own and manage these properties (stats taken from Housing Net)

Type of Organisation	Number of Properties Owned
Arms Length Management Organisations	29,029
Charities or Charitable Organisations	224
Co-operatives	203
Housing Associations	37,779
Other	185
Total	67,420

The majority of the stock is owned by Housing Associations and Arms Length Management Organisations, so this is the bit where I tell you what they are:

Housing Associations

Housing Associations also known as resident social landlords are usually not for profit organisations that own and manage properties acquired through local authority housing stock transfers and by developing properties. (Directgov).

Arms Length Management Organisations (ALMO’s)

ALMO’s are organisations created by local authorities to manage and improve its housing stock. The local authorities retain the ownership of the properties and the ALMO looks after the day-to-day management of the properties dealing with issues like repairs and rental queries.

So this is it! A very brief look at what social housing is. It’s a very broad subject and I’ve only tried to include things that help set a context for the blog. As I mentioned earlier, the next post is about the history of social housing… see you on the flip sideJ.

References

BBC, 2007, Q&A: Social housing. [online] [retrieved 28 October 2011] <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6691927.stm>

 

COMMUNITIES & LOCAL GOVERNMENT, 2009. Survey of English Housing Preliminary Results 2007/08. [online] [retrieved 28 October 2011] <http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/corporate/statistics/sehprelimresults0708>

DIRECTGOV. N.D., Housing Associations – what are they. [online] [retrieved 28 October 2011] <http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/HomeAndCommunity/Councilandhousingassociationhomes/Housingassociationhomes/DG_188384>

LOCAL GOVERNMENTS ASSOCIATION, 2008. COUNCILS AND THE HOUSING CRISIS: The potential impacts and knock-on effects of the credit crunch on councils and their housing role [online] [retrieved 28 October 2011] <http://www.lga.gov.uk/lga/aio/569196>

SHELTER, 2011, What is social housing,[online] [retrieved 28 October 2011] <http://england.shelter.org.uk/campaigns/housing_issues/Improving_social_housing/what_is_social_housing>

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STOCKPORT HOMES, 2010, What is an ALMO, [online] [retrieved 28 October 2011] <http://www.stockporthomes.org/main.cfm?type=WHATISANALMO>