Crisis and the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence (CaCHE) have begun a new research project exploring current practices and issues affecting social housing allocations in Great Britain, in collaboration with the National Housing Federation.

During spring and summer 2022, we’ll be speaking to housing associations, local authorities and people living or hoping to live in social housing, to explore allocations – the means by which it is decided who is prioritised for social housing in different areas.

The research is starting with an online survey of housing associations but will also include case study interviews and discussion groups with key parties involved in social housing allocations in specific localities in Great Britain.

We’re doing this to build a stronger understanding of what challenges social landlords face when deciding who is prioritised for access to social housing. We want to build on existing knowledge in this area by exploring the detail of how different allocations systems are actually developed and then work in practice, to see what implications this has for who is able to access social housing.

The research has the following objectives:

• To synthesise existing evidence on allocations
• To obtain a greater understanding of what principles sit underneath allocations policy
• To explore in detail how allocations operate at a local level, in terms of both policy and practice, including
  • What patterns there are in how housing is allocated depending on factors such as geography and housing market
  • The impact of relationships and practices between housing associations and local authorities
  • The impact of national and local policy on housing associations’ ability to let accommodation to people facing homelessness
  • The relationship between allocation systems and inclusion/exclusion of certain types of household
  • To identify policy and practice solutions to improving accommodation access to people facing homelessness or at risk of doing so

If you have any questions about the research project, please do email research@crisis.org.uk