The role of housing and housing providers in tackling poverty experienced by young people in the UK
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Cambridge
Department Name: Land Economy
Abstract
This research looks at what works in tackling poverty amongst young people (aged 16 to 25) who do not live in the parental home, with a focus on the role that housing providers can play. Measures to address poverty in this age group are delivered by a range of landlords and agencies that provide accommodation and housing related services. They include the provision of accommodation ranging from temporary supported housing to permanent long term housing. They can also provide advice and services including assistance with training and education and schemes to facilitate access to the private rented sector. The research will investigate the feasibility of implementing successful measures across the UK.
The long term impact of the research should be a reduction in poverty amongst young people in the UK. Young people in poverty will therefore be the ultimate beneficiaries. They will have a variety of personal circumstances, such as being homeless and out of work and not in education, or in low paid work but unable to access decent housing. The research should lead to an increase in good practice that improves the quality, scale and effectiveness of the housing and related services provided to young people in poverty.
In working towards this impact, in the shorter and medium term the research will benefit housing providers and policy makers wishing to implement measures to address poverty among young people. They will benefit from the evidence of actions that can tackle poverty successfully. The academic community will benefit from the research through the new body of evidence on what kinds of poverty interventions work, contributing to academic debates and addressing gaps in the evidence.
A desk based literature review will examine evidence of the impact of selected housing interventions for young people in the UK and in other countries. An online survey of housing providers in Europe will extend the knowledge of actions that work throughout Europe.
Quantitative analysis of housing and youth poverty in the UK, using secondary data, will examine current practice in rent settings for properties occupied by young single people and will use census data from 1971 to 2011 to assess the impact of housing policy measures on young people's well-being. The impact on increased employability and income will be evaluated using novel econometric techniques and the consequences of housing for fuel costs and disposable income will be assessed. Case studies of selected organisations will show what housing providers can do to tackle poverty and what the consequences are for young people. The research will focus on schemes that have the potential to alleviate poverty by reducing housing and living costs including fuel bills, increasing incomes by improving employability, locating housing near to jobs, increasing the capacity for unsupported and supported independent living and tackling the wider factors that are both cause and consequences of poverty.
CCHPR has four partners in this research. They have helped to develop the proposal and will be directly involved in the research and its dissemination. Their involvement will focus and extend the impact of the research. Centrepoint is the UK's leading charity for homeless young people, supporting 16-25 years olds with housing, learning, health and life skills. The Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust provides housing and a variety of care and support services in Yorkshire and the North East of England. Community Housing Cymru (CHC) is the representative body for housing associations and community mutuals in Wales, all not-for profit organisations. The European Federation of Public, Cooperative & Social Housing organisations (CECODHAS) is a network of 41 national & regional federations with about 41,400 providers in 19 countries.
The long term impact of the research should be a reduction in poverty amongst young people in the UK. Young people in poverty will therefore be the ultimate beneficiaries. They will have a variety of personal circumstances, such as being homeless and out of work and not in education, or in low paid work but unable to access decent housing. The research should lead to an increase in good practice that improves the quality, scale and effectiveness of the housing and related services provided to young people in poverty.
In working towards this impact, in the shorter and medium term the research will benefit housing providers and policy makers wishing to implement measures to address poverty among young people. They will benefit from the evidence of actions that can tackle poverty successfully. The academic community will benefit from the research through the new body of evidence on what kinds of poverty interventions work, contributing to academic debates and addressing gaps in the evidence.
A desk based literature review will examine evidence of the impact of selected housing interventions for young people in the UK and in other countries. An online survey of housing providers in Europe will extend the knowledge of actions that work throughout Europe.
Quantitative analysis of housing and youth poverty in the UK, using secondary data, will examine current practice in rent settings for properties occupied by young single people and will use census data from 1971 to 2011 to assess the impact of housing policy measures on young people's well-being. The impact on increased employability and income will be evaluated using novel econometric techniques and the consequences of housing for fuel costs and disposable income will be assessed. Case studies of selected organisations will show what housing providers can do to tackle poverty and what the consequences are for young people. The research will focus on schemes that have the potential to alleviate poverty by reducing housing and living costs including fuel bills, increasing incomes by improving employability, locating housing near to jobs, increasing the capacity for unsupported and supported independent living and tackling the wider factors that are both cause and consequences of poverty.
CCHPR has four partners in this research. They have helped to develop the proposal and will be directly involved in the research and its dissemination. Their involvement will focus and extend the impact of the research. Centrepoint is the UK's leading charity for homeless young people, supporting 16-25 years olds with housing, learning, health and life skills. The Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust provides housing and a variety of care and support services in Yorkshire and the North East of England. Community Housing Cymru (CHC) is the representative body for housing associations and community mutuals in Wales, all not-for profit organisations. The European Federation of Public, Cooperative & Social Housing organisations (CECODHAS) is a network of 41 national & regional federations with about 41,400 providers in 19 countries.
Planned Impact
The long term impact of the research should be a reduction in poverty amongst young people in the UK. It is young people in poverty aged 16 to 25 who will therefore be the ultimate beneficiaries of the research. These young people will have a variety of personal circumstances. This includes being homeless and out of work and not in education. It includes young people who are unable to access decent housing. The research should lead to an increase in good practice that improves the quality, scale and effectiveness of the housing and related services provided to young people in poverty.
In working towards this impact the research will in the shorter and medium term benefit housing providers and policy makers who wish to implement measures that will prevent or alleviate poverty amongst young people. The housing providers include housing associations and other social landlords. Housing associations and charitable foundations that provide both accommodation and supportive services for young people will, for example, benefit from the evidence of actions that can tackle poverty successfully. They will be better informed and thus able to introduce or extend practices that work well in tackling poverty.
Some of the actions required to prevent or alleviate poverty will require changes in policy by national, devolved or local government. The policy changes are likely to include the introduction or extension of measures that impact directly on the well being of young people. Some of these may be policy instruments that facilitate improved actions by housing providers.
The research will identify and set out the evidence for good practice in the UK and in other countries. Housing providers and policy makers will benefit from this knowledge.
Centrepoint, The Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust (JRHT), Community Housing Cymru (CHC) and CECODHAS Housing Europe are partners with CCHPR in this research. They have helped to develop the proposal and they will be directly involved in the research and its dissemination. Their involvement will focus and extend the impact of the research.
Centrepoint is the UK's leading charity for homeless young people, supporting 16-25 year olds with housing, learning, health and life skills. Centrepoint works directly with young people in Greater London, the North East of England and Bradford.
JRHT provides housing and a variety of housing, care and support services in Yorkshire and the North East of England.
Community Housing Cymru (CHC) is the representative body for housing associations and community mutuals in Wales, which are all not-for profit organisations. CHC members work closely with local government, third sector organisations and the Welsh Government to provide a range of services in communities across Wales.
CECODHAS Housing Europe is the European Federation of Public, Cooperative & Social Housing. Established in 1988 it is a network of 41 national & regional federations encompassing about 41.400 providers in 19 countries who manage over 25 million homes, about 12% of existing dwellings in the EU.
The partners who will be involved with the research will be direct beneficiaries. The good practice that the partners help to identify will, through the research and its dissemination, benefit many other providers of housing and housing related services throughout the UK.
The impact of the research will be focused on the UK but there will be an additional international dimension to the impact through the involvement of CECODHAS.
Additional beneficiaries will be academics working on poverty, housing and young people. Three articles targeted at international journals will discuss the methodology and conclusions from the work.
In working towards this impact the research will in the shorter and medium term benefit housing providers and policy makers who wish to implement measures that will prevent or alleviate poverty amongst young people. The housing providers include housing associations and other social landlords. Housing associations and charitable foundations that provide both accommodation and supportive services for young people will, for example, benefit from the evidence of actions that can tackle poverty successfully. They will be better informed and thus able to introduce or extend practices that work well in tackling poverty.
Some of the actions required to prevent or alleviate poverty will require changes in policy by national, devolved or local government. The policy changes are likely to include the introduction or extension of measures that impact directly on the well being of young people. Some of these may be policy instruments that facilitate improved actions by housing providers.
The research will identify and set out the evidence for good practice in the UK and in other countries. Housing providers and policy makers will benefit from this knowledge.
Centrepoint, The Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust (JRHT), Community Housing Cymru (CHC) and CECODHAS Housing Europe are partners with CCHPR in this research. They have helped to develop the proposal and they will be directly involved in the research and its dissemination. Their involvement will focus and extend the impact of the research.
Centrepoint is the UK's leading charity for homeless young people, supporting 16-25 year olds with housing, learning, health and life skills. Centrepoint works directly with young people in Greater London, the North East of England and Bradford.
JRHT provides housing and a variety of housing, care and support services in Yorkshire and the North East of England.
Community Housing Cymru (CHC) is the representative body for housing associations and community mutuals in Wales, which are all not-for profit organisations. CHC members work closely with local government, third sector organisations and the Welsh Government to provide a range of services in communities across Wales.
CECODHAS Housing Europe is the European Federation of Public, Cooperative & Social Housing. Established in 1988 it is a network of 41 national & regional federations encompassing about 41.400 providers in 19 countries who manage over 25 million homes, about 12% of existing dwellings in the EU.
The partners who will be involved with the research will be direct beneficiaries. The good practice that the partners help to identify will, through the research and its dissemination, benefit many other providers of housing and housing related services throughout the UK.
The impact of the research will be focused on the UK but there will be an additional international dimension to the impact through the involvement of CECODHAS.
Additional beneficiaries will be academics working on poverty, housing and young people. Three articles targeted at international journals will discuss the methodology and conclusions from the work.
| Description | The research has found that many of the support services offered by housing organisations and their partners may reduce poverty amongst young people as a by-product of activities designed to increase independence and employment prospects. Most social landlords with more than a few properties help their tenants in a variety of ways beyond the provision of housing. However, the literature publicly available that includes evaluations of projects aiming to help young people in poverty is sparse. Evidence of impact rarely goes beyond stating the project's scale and intended goals. The variety of approaches across Europe mirrors the range of initiatives in the UK, though often takes a wider view of young people with the inclusion of students in many countries. In the UK projects that help young people may not be exclusively aimed at them. For example, projects aiming to help vulnerable single parents may not be explicitly restricted to young people, but nevertheless cater largely for that group in practice. The analysis suggests that there are three main ways housing providers address poverty amongst young people. 1. They run schemes to help people improve their incomes by finding work or gaining qualifications to enable them to find better-paid work. 2. They help young people manage their incomes better. 3. They can reduce the costs of housing provision by for example providing shared housing or subsidised rents. The quantitative analysis undertaken suggests that getting out of poverty is, for young people, often associated with other changes in their circumstances. Education, qualifications, employment, independence and mobility, in the broadest sense of the term, can all be part of the route out of poverty. Actions initiated by housing providers that promote such changes are therefore likely to help alleviate or prevent poverty. The case studies examined within this research show that the existence and location of projects that can prevent or mitigate the impact of poverty amongst young people are not the result of a national or local strategy for poverty reduction amongst young people. Instead, the initiatives involving housing providers are often the result of local leadership and the vision of individuals who have responded to a set of perceived needs. The funding of these projects is usually ad hoc and short term, with housing providers sometimes devoting their own funds to a scheme, though more often obtaining funding from a variety of sources including local authorities, charities and philanthropic support. The ad hoc nature of the initiatives and the funding has important implications for both the sustainability of the individual schemes and the transferability of ideas to other locations. Given that many of the initiatives investigated by this research are new, the long term impact of actions of housing providers is not known. More work to evaluate the long term impact by returning to the case study examples in the future as well as undertaking further quantitative analysis of long term impact would provide additional valuable evidence about the value of housing providers activities in ameliorating poverty amongst young people. |
| Exploitation Route | The research shows that housing providers play a valuable role as co-ordinators (or as the organisations that make the connections that bring services together). However, all the schemes investigated faced challenges to their financial viability and sustainability. There are in all cases limits to what housing providers can do from their own resources. There are very few examples where there have been detailed evaluations of results against explicit criteria. There are, despite this lack of long-term quantifiable indications of success from self-evaluation by the project organisations, many examples of activities that because of their perceived value by providers, young people and referral agencies could be usefully replicated elsewhere. This suggests three principal ways in which the findings may be taken forward: (1) by informing ongoing and future initiatives by housing providers to enhance their effectiveness in poverty reduction (2) informing potential funders of housing led initiatives so that resources are targeted towards activities that are most likely to have significant beneficial outcomes (3) by informing future research into the longer run impact of housing-led poverty reduction activities. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Education |
| URL | http://www.cchpr.landecon.cam.ac.uk/Projects/Start-Year/2014/role-housing-housing-providers-tackling-poverty-experienced-young-people-UK |
| Description | There has been ongoing dissemination and impact throughout the project, including: • Through the project website - www.cchpr.landecon.cam.ac.uk/Projects/Start-Year/2014/role-housing-housing-providers-tackling-poverty-experienced-young-people-UK/Project-Website • A presentation of the aims of the research to the What Works in Tackling Poverty Seminar facilitated by the Public Policy Institute for Wales on 7th November 2014. • A discussion session held at Housing Europe's all-day meeting in Brussels on 10th March 2015, presenting early findings from the data analysis and discussing how housing providers are tackling poverty of young people throughout Europe. Examples of projects in over 10 countries were presented to the meeting. • A presentation of emerging findings and facilitation of a break-out discussion for the Public Policy Institute of Wales on 5 May 2015. • A contribution about the research to the ESRC's Britain in 2016 magazine in autumn 2015 • On March 9th 2016, Professor Oxley addressed the All Party Parliamentary Group on Social Science on the initial findings from the study. • A Practice seminar in Wales facilitated by Community Housing Cymru (CHC), was held on 18th April 2016. This event had over 50 attendees from across the housing sector in Wales. There were presentations by the researchers and by the selected case study organisations in Wales who participated in the research. • A presentation of the emerging findings at the Housing Studies Association annual conference in April 2016, by our Early Career Researcher, supported by the CI, Anna Clarke. This conference was attended by a mixture of academics and policy makers from throughout the UK. • A paper "The role of housing and housing providers in tackling poverty experienced by young people in the UK" by Anna Clarke and Charlotte Hamilton presented at a one-day conference, hosted by the Leeds Centre for Interdisciplinary Childhood and Youth Research, September 16th 2016, Devonshire Hall, University of Leeds. • A final impact event: Young People, Poverty and Housing, Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust, London 16th November 2016. There were presentations by the researchers and by selected case study organisations who participated in the research. See: http://www.cchpr.landecon.cam.ac.uk/Projects/Start-Year/2014/role-housing-housing-providers-tackling-poverty-experienced-young-people-UK/Presentations Anna Clarke linked this ESRC funded research with another research project that she completed in an article: "A problem shared", Welsh Housing Quarterly, October 2016, pp. 36-39 http://www.whq.org.uk/the-magazine/issue/104/a-problem-shared The article, aimed at housing providers, focused on how cuts in housing benefit for young single people under 35 have forced shared housing on to the agenda for social landlords. The linked research was a feasibility study of the prospect of developing a viable housing model for those entitled only to access the shared accommodation rate, funded by Community Housing Cymru and the Welsh Local Government Association. See www.cchpr.landecon.cam.ac.uk/Projects/Start-Year/2016/Feasibility-study-develop-viable-housing-model-those-entitled-only-access-shared-accommodation-rate/Final-Report The early impacts of this research are thus: (1) A developing improved understanding amongst housing providers involved in the research, in attendance at the presentations or reading the material cited above, and accessing the project website of the value of housing-related poverty-amelioration activities. In particular, there has been important "learning from each other" amongst housing providers involved in the research. (2) A developing awareness amongst politicians of the value of housing providers' poverty related activities. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2015 |
| Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy |
| Impact Types | Societal |