Making rented housing a home
Research from Glasgow University looks at what tenants in the private rented sector think their rights should be in relation to their landlord. The study, by Adriana Mihaela Soaita, asked ‘everyday activists’ across Britain for their views. Of the 60 people who responded, some were actively engaged in collective campaigning, while others had complained about […]
Opinion: Evidence versus instinct
I’ve been a strong advocate of evidence-based decision making throughout my career, writes HQN Associate Emma Lindley. I have two degrees, I commission research, I study research and summarise it for fellow professionals. I was on the Housing Studies Association committee, you get the idea. However, it wasn’t until recently that I was doing research […]
Renovation project in Sweden balances cost and tenant choice
A study from Sweden examines how municipal housing companies can afford to renovate homes without causing steep rent increases to tenants. The research by Kristina Mjörnell, Jenny von Platten and Kicki Björklund looked at an initiative to offer tenants choices in what improvements they wanted, for what cost. Although the housing is owned by local […]
Do shared services improve resilience? Mixed evidence from district councils during the Covid-19 pandemic
Inter-municipal collaboration, often referred to as ‘shared services,’ has gained a significant foothold in English local government over the last 10-15 years, bringing England into line with much of mainland Europe and the USA, write Thomas Elston and Germà Bel. This model of jointly providing public services across two or more local jurisdictions, whether through […]
Refurbish or replace? Calculating the relative costs
The decision on whether to replace or renovate housing is complex, involving factors such as aesthetics, the popularity of the housing and costs of improvements. Increasingly, note researchers Yair Schwartz, Rokia Raslan and Dejan Mumovica, the decision will also revolve around decarbonisation. But calculations of a building’s carbon footprint tend to look only at performance […]
The last word
How knowledge and accountability meant we were able to tackle our Covid repairs backlog By Daniel Miller, Head of Repairs and Maintenance, Eastlight Community Homes The Covid-19 lockdowns in 2020 and 2021 had a huge impact on housing repairs services up and down the country. By December 2021, our 12,500-home organisation had 3,000 jobs […]
Research round-up – April 2022
This roundup by Emma Lindley provides a selection of recent research and reports across a range of strategic housing topic areas. If you’d like to suggest any research to be included in future editions, please get in touch. Housing demand People in housing need 2021 This research by the National Housing Federation estimates the true […]