Systemic issues in the English social housing sector: mapping interconnected challenges faced by London-based housing associations

Abstract

The provision of good-quality social housing is crucial in addressing disparities in cities. However, in England—and particularly in London—the supply of social rent homes is threatened by interconnected pressures. The resulting complexity is difficult for housing providers to navigate, and interventions designed in response often reinforce, rather than alleviate, existing issues. Instead of tackling these issues in isolation, this paper seeks to provide a picture of their interconnections, supporting reflection on leverage points effecting change across the system. Using systems thinking, we developed six diagrams of the cause-and-effect relationships that underpin critical issues in the English social housing sector, as identified in the literature. These causal loop diagrams (CLDs) were then explored and enriched over a series of participatory activities involving four London-based housing associations and the authors of the source publications. The CLDs display the systemic effects of changes in politics and policies, and of the strategies devised in response—emerging from partial understandings of the system and the prioritization of different goals (e.g. viability, housing targets, speculation). The proposed leverage points challenge beliefs about the mechanisms required to address issues in the social housing sector, offering an alternative approach to the frequent revisions of housing policies.