Making the case for major investment in social housing

The prize was open to anyone with up to eight years’ research experience, working in non-academic as well as academic institutions. Entries were encouraged from the voluntary sector, thinktanks, housing associations, local authorities and journalists – and the judges based their decision on criteria including clarity of writing, engagement with literature and theory, strength of conclusions, and the extent that the research is outcome and impact-focused.

If the paper argues that the housing system is not working for families on low incomes, the solution, say the winning pair, is “sustained investment in homes for social renting”. Creating more homes for social rent would not only provide people with a “genuinely affordable and secure home”, but also a route out of poverty, and would reduce the housing benefit bill by up to £1bn a year, says the paper, titled Renters on low incomes face a policy black hole: homes for social rent are the answer.

It analyses the large number of households on low incomes paying rents they cannot afford in the private sector, shows the depth and breadth of the problem and examines the government’s policy response.

The paper argues that government efforts such as Help to Buy, First Homes and the mortgage guarantee scheme would be unaffordable for more than nine out of 10 low-income private renters. The paper concludes that 90,000 homes for social rent a year for the next 15 years is the answer – at a cost of £11-14bn a year.

The winners

“Housing affordability is a well-explored topic, but we saw a gap in the market and wanted to write something with wider appeal,” says joint winner Mr Elliott.

Mr Elliott, a senior analyst, and Ms Earwaker, a senior economist, work at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

Mr Elliott has worked in social housing regulation at the Northern Ireland Housing Executive and in Universal Credit analysis at the Department for Work and Pensions, and is currently researching housing security and affordability. Ms Earwaker previously worked as an analyst at the New Zealand Treasury, co-ordinating the Budgets including the first Wellbeing Budget in 2019, and working on social and emergency housing. Her current focus is on the impact of the cost of living crisis on low-income households, and housing policy.

The pair believe that the government’s push towards encouraging homeownership is not the solution for those struggling with poverty – and the situation has been exacerbated by the cost of living crisis.

“Government solutions have focused on the path towards homeownership, but that isn’t a feasible option for many living in poverty,” states Mr Elliott.

Ms Earwaker says the pair wanted to show “how the current housing market and government housing policy wasn’t working for private renters on low incomes”.

“Without better options for accessing ownership and social housing, over half of those on low incomes in the private rented sector faced an affordability crisis back in mid-2021 and it’s only gotten worse since.”

What stood out among their research was, for Mr Elliott, the extent to which Black, Asian and minority ethnic and disabled people are disproportionately affected by the high cost of private renting. The report says that 65% of Black, Asian and minority ethnic private renters on a low income are paying rents they cannot afford, compared to 52% of white households on a low income.

For Ms Earwaker, it was that in mid-2021, more than a fifth of low-income private renters in England were spending more than 40% of their income on rent, which “shouldn’t be accepted”. She says: “It’s a big confidence boost to continue working on research pieces like this and to know the analysis and thinking is valuable.”

“We really admire Thinkhouse, so it was thrilling to win the prize,” Mr Elliott adds. “Working on issues we care about is such a privilege.”