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Quantifying residualisation: the changing nature of social housing in the UK

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Abstract

Over the last 40 years, social housing has become dominated by households on low incomes. However, there is a lack of recent research that quantifies residualisation, particularly the historical trends. This paper therefore presents an Index of Residualisation as a novel means of quantifying the changes. Using the Index, it is shown that, in 2010 social housing in the UK was three times more residualised than in 1970, but that residualisation has been broadly stable over the last 20 years. However, the UK government’s social housing reforms are likely to change the tenure significantly and the impact of these changes on residualisation needs to be monitored. The Index is ideally suited to this role, and can also be used to investigate the drivers of residualisation and conduct comparative studies.

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Notes

  1. It should be noted that both Hamnett (1984) and Bentham (1986) refer to socio-tenurial polarisation rather than residualisation per se. However, these to constructs are closely linked, and for the purposes of measurement are instructive for the analysis of measurement.

  2. Ibid.

  3. For this scale, the first adult in a household counts as one unit, each subsequent adult as 0.5 and each child (under 15) as 0.3 units. The FES data counted those under 16 as children, so the equivalence calculations are not completely accurate, but are likely to be representative.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are indebted to Alan Murie and one other anonymous reviewer who provided extensive and helpful feedback on an earlier draft of this manuscript.

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  1. Building and Social Housing Foundation, Memorial Square, Coalville, Leicestershire, LE67 3TU, UK

    Jen Pearce & Jim Vine

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  1. Jen Pearce
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  2. Jim Vine
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Correspondence to Jen Pearce.

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Pearce, J., Vine, J. Quantifying residualisation: the changing nature of social housing in the UK. J Hous and the Built Environ 29, 657–675 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10901-013-9372-3

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