Stigma and social housing in England

‘Sink estates’, ‘underclass’, ‘crime-ridden’, ‘drug infested’, these are just some of the words which are used to describe social housing estates in England. Why should people have to face this type of stigmatization just because they live in social housing? What is the impact of this type of stigma on the lives of social housing tenants? How is it challenged? Seeking answers to these questions led us on a journey which has lasted two years. In this time, we spoke to over 200 people (tenants, social landlords, activists, etc.) in 29 focus groups and 45 interviews. We were particularly interested in understanding how the dominant public perception of social housing as zones of criminality and social housing tenants as uncivilised, lazy, and unemployed people was constructed, is experienced and challenged. Our report, Stigma and Social Housing in England, sets out our findings from the research project.

This report points at social housing stigma being much more complex than is usually assumed because it intersects with other stigmas such as poverty stigma, crime stigma, mental health and disabilities, and race and immigration stigma. In addition, it shows geographic and generational variations in the intensity of stigma in England. Social housing residents are shown to experience stigma in a variety of ways ranging from their interactions with their housing providers, local councils and their contractors, neighbours, the police, GPs, at work, at school, with potential employers etc. We provide evidence of these and other forms of stigmatization including postcode stigmatization and segregation through the use of poor doors in this report. This report also revealed that government policies to destigmatize social housing through a social mix/mixed tenure planning system has not been effective in destigmatizing social housing and their tenants. This report highlights that the planning system has been used to address the symptoms of stigma and not the power relations that drive the social loss of status because of stigma.

The recommendations from this report require the government to adopt a rights-based approach to housing. This rights-based approach to housing will make access to affordable housing a fundamental human right and will enable people to stop using stigmatizing language and rhetoric to describe social housing and to engage with social housing residents. It will enable the government and other stakeholders to recognise/understand the intersection of social housing stigma with other stigmas and develop effective and holistic policy measures to challenge/address the stigma affecting the everyday realities, the quality of life, and the life chances of social housing residents.

Consultation questions

We believe that for this to happen, everyone needs to play their parts. There is a need for honest conversations and spirited engagement around this issue by all stakeholders in the social housing sector including but not limited to the government, politicians, the media, housing providers and tenants.

At the end, we open this conversation with a set of consultation questions on page 59. We encourage debate on the consultation questions within organisations, at conferences and events, with government and other stakeholders, indeed in any forum where debate is possible. However, we would like your thoughts and responses on these consultation questions to be sent to us via stigmaconsultation@gmail.com.   

Inputs from the consultation questions will be published in a report format to engage with the necessary stakeholders. For confidentiality purposes, the identities of the contributors to these consultation questions will not be disclosed except where we are explicitly requested to disclose.

Closing date for the submissions of consultation inputs is 31 October 2021.

Enquiries can be made to Dr. Mercy Denedo and Dr. Amanze Ejiogu via mercy.e.denedo@durham.ac.uk or stigmaconsultation@gmail.com