© 2025 News On The Block. All rights reserved.
News on the Block is a trading name of Premier Property Media Ltd.
© 2025 News On The Block. All rights reserved.
News on the Block is a trading name of Premier Property Media Ltd.
When John Hills was asked by communities secretary, Ruth Kelly, to review the social housing sector and what role it could play in 21st century housing policy, housing professionals saw an opportunity to re-think the purpose, the delivery and the outcomes of social housing. The resulting report, Ends and Means, was published on 20th February and the debate is set to continue.
Social housing plays an important role in the overall landscape of housing provision in this country, with just under four million households living in either council or housing association rented homes. The John Hills report takes a detailed look at the way in which social housing is allocated, funded and the sort of outcomes it delivers for its residents.
The report shows that new tenants in social housing tend to be those in the greatest need, and that social housing tenants are more likely than any others to be unemployed and living in the most deprived neighbourhoods. This can often mean a lack of training and employment opportunities locally, and this is made worse by the difficulty of moving house to find work as a tenant in social housing.
Commenting on the report, the deputy chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH), Sarah Webb, highlighted the deep dichotomy between social housing as a step up for some and a limiter of life chances for others.
“An affordable, decent home to rent can provide you with exactly the security and space you need to get on in your life but it can also act as a barrier to your social mobility. It’s not, however, social housing as a concept that’s bad for you – rather it’s the concentration of poor quality social housing in an area without jobs, good schools or facilities that limits your life chances.”
She continued: “It’s these concentrated areas of deprivation that we really need to tackle – and, unfortunately, although we do need to make a better job of linking housing support with help to find paid work – you do also need money to remodel the worst estates.”
John Hills’s report is an invaluable can opener for more detailed discussion and the CIH will be taking forward this debate over the coming months. Sarah Webb said: “We can’t let John’s report be the end of our thinking – it’s got to represent the start of a period of serious creative challenge. Things will only change on the ground if we can translate John’s broad challenges into practical policy and that’s what we will be working on throughout the year.”
Speaking on the detail of the report, Sarah Webb said: “The two most important issues to emerge are the links between social housing and worklessness and the need to tackle our least mixed estates. We can make some progress on the former with relatively low cost ideas like providing training and job advice – but the second is harder. As a sector we know how to work with communities to remodel estates, but progress will depend on an availability of land and resources.”