ENDS AND MEANS: THE FUTURE ROLES OF SOCIAL HOUSING IN ENGLAND

This report was commissioned to help the Secretary of State for Communities and LocalGovernment “stand back and ask what role social housing can play in 21st Century housingpolicy”. Its aim is to provide the background and analytical framework against which theimplications of different answers to such a fundamental question can be debated both insideand outside government. Amongst other issues the report covers key questions raised by theterms of reference, in particular:■ What can social housing do in helping create genuinely mixed communities?■ Can the way we run it encourage social mobility and opportunities, including in thelabour market, for people to get on in their lives?■ Can social housing and other support be more responsive to changing needs andenable greater geographical mobility?The report looks at the possible trade-offs between these and other objectives – but also,more encouragingly, at the ways in which achieving some of them may reinforce each other.The report assesses different objectives and implications for the direction of travel on reform,rather than making detailed policy recommendations. As will become evident from theevidence presented here and the conclusions which they lead to, there are important issues,affecting a crucial part of the lives of nearly four million households in England and the useof assets worth more than £400 billion, that require urgent debate. Specific policy responseswould require careful design and consultation. This report is designed to contribute to thebeginning of such a process, rather than be the conclusion of it.[...]