Combatting loneliness in social housing communities

While the wellbeing of UK residents has generally improved since the pandemic, loneliness remains a pressing concern. With the problem particularly acute among social tenants, what can providers do to help?

With its series of lockdowns and strict rules around social interaction, the COVID-19 pandemic had an undeniable effect on the wellbeing of UK residents. Many were locked indoors for days on end, their social routines all but gone. 

The result was a general decline in people’s wellbeing and a rise in the numbers experiencing loneliness. These secondary symptoms are still with us today – even though the pandemic no longer is. 

The Campaign to End Loneliness has been tracking data on loneliness to understand the influence of the pandemic and to find out if particular groups have been driving this change. 

The data shows significant increases in chronic loneliness in people between the ages of 30 and 70 since the pandemic, with the amount of chronically lonely older people living in severe social isolation also on the rise. 

These incidences have been linked to bereavement, disability and frailty, affecting some of the most vulnerable in society. Age, gender, ethnicity and health are the most significant factors in levels of loneliness, according to the data. 

However, when linked to statistics around tenure and occupancy, another noteworthy demographic emerges: social renters. 

The government has been publishing its annual English Housing Survey, which looks at the wellbeing of individuals across all types of occupancies across England. Back in 2021, it found that, during the pandemic, social renters felt more anxious than other occupants and had the lowest wellbeing scores, whilst being more than twice as likely to feel lonely than any other tenure. 

According to the survey, which covered the period 2019-2020,12 per cent of social renters said they were often or always lonely, compared with just five per cent of private renters and four per cent of owner-occupiers. 

The latest survey, published in December, found that, while measures of wellbeing and loneliness are better compared to levels seen during the pandemic, they are still lower than in 2019-20. It also revealed that, in comparison to 2021-22, fewer social renters believed their lives were worthwhile in 2022-23, with similar results when looking at life satisfaction. 

Learning from the pandemic 

Socio-economic factors play a significant part in the disparity between the wellbeing of many of those living in social housing compared to those who own their own homes. But what can we, as a sector, do about combatting loneliness and improving wellbeing among our residents? 

There was a big drive at the height of the pandemic to connect more with residents and build better strategies for engagement. Partly due to leadership transitioning abruptly to remote governance, many frontline teams were given higher levels of autonomy and less red tape, which allowed them to use their initiative and draw on their own creativity and experiences with their local communities. 

As a result, we saw an increase across some communities in tenant engagement and examples emerge of how localised initiatives could create dramatic change and improve tenants' lives during difficult times. This also paved the way for more creative strategies for future, longer term tenant engagement and wellbeing. 

Warrington Housing Association, for example, created a 'customer voice officer’ role, built on the seven commitments from the Social Housing White Paper, which aimed to ensure the safety and wellbeing of residents, tackle anxiety and loneliness, as well as giving them a platform to voice their opinion. 

It also created four mental health first-aider roles; developed a scrutiny panel made up of their customers (WHASP), which allows residents to directly input the association’s future direction; set up a free money advice portal; and established social support groups for the over-50s and young people. 

Elsewhere, the importance of outdoor community space has been recognised as a critical factor in improving wellbeing and combating loneliness. Thurrock Council transformed a previously underused space to create a community garden in South Ockendon as a way to ease social isolation among residents. The council worked with its repairs contractor, Mears, who funded and installed the garden as one of its social value projects, to provide a “holistic community space”. 

In tandem, its resident engagement team set up a ‘Growing Thurrock Communities’ network on social media to encourage like-minded council tenants and leaseholders to grow their own food and get involved in their own community space. 

Making room for innovation 

Technology is also being looked at as a way to potentially ease tenant loneliness. 

Grainger, one of the country’s biggest Build to Rent operators, recently launched an app for residents with the aim of helping to combat loneliness among its customers. Called ‘Buddy Up’, the service enables new residents to post a call-out for friends within the development to arrange a coffee meeting or lunch date. 

The app was created after a company study found a lack of community spirit amongst neighbours in Britain; according to the research, 60 per cent of those surveyed admitted to having no neighbourly friend. 

Alicia Biasotti, ABC Consulting

The best social housing communities can provide a sense of belonging as well as being connected to the larger society

Meanwhile, the Rural Services Network has come up with a way to help combat loneliness in older residents of rural communities, whilst also addressing the challenges surrounding lack of available housing for younger people. 

Its Homeshare scheme connects people, often from different generations, to live under one roof. The aim is to help the householder (usually an older person or someone living with a disability) to feel safe, gain companionship, and retain independence, while providing the sharer (typically mature students or key workers) with an affordable housing option far below average private-rental prices. 

Participants of the scheme are vetted, selected and matched through a process of interviews, meetings, trial periods, references and DBS checks. After this has been completed, the sharer moves in with the householder, helps with household chores and provides a reassuring overnight presence. 

So far, the scheme has helped several residents to feel less lonely and had a significant impact on their wellbeing, whilst also providing extra benefits to participants through household help and reduced living costs. 

Creating space for connected communities 

Whilst frontline services and initiatives are doing a great job at responding to the challenges of loneliness in tenants, the way in which our social housing communities are designed and function is also key to helping existing and future residents to connect and engage with each other in a meaningful way. 

Leadership coach Alicia Biasotti writes for ABC Consulting, a social housing architecture and public housing construction management service. She believes that social housing architecture should be at the heart of urban planning. 

“The best social housing communities can provide a sense of belonging as well as being connected to the larger society,” she says. “They also offer different types of opportunities for those living within them. 

“This can be especially beneficial for those who have been marginalised, or who have been forced to move from their homes due to a lack of affordable housing options…Integral to this goal is designing spaces where residents can gather to share and learn about each other’s experiences, helping to build a greater sense of belonging to something that has real value.” 

Tackling loneliness across our society, especially in community areas where there is a concentration of those who are most at risk of loneliness, must take a holistic approach, where environment as well as opportunity is prioritised. Key initiatives that have shown promising results in combating loneliness among tenants have only succeeded because the environment has been created where connectivity can flourish. 

It will be crucial to bear this in mind when planning, developing and creating the social housing communities of the future.

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