We know the work we do to provide safe, secure, and affordable homes for our customers makes a huge contribution to society.
In contrast, there are significant impacts on the lives of people without a stable and affordable place to live – as well as the knock-on effects on wider society and the economy. Without social housing, more people would be out of work, there’d be more pressure on the NHS and more crime, costing the public purse and damaging our society.
The need to evidence the impact of social housing is therefore as great as it’s ever been.
The Value of a Social Tenancy (VoST), developed by ourselves and Sonnet Advisory & Impact CIC in 2018, set out to do just that.
VoST puts a value on the positive benefits for someone living in a social tenancy, compared with someone living in temporary accommodation, in a privately-rented home or with family and friends. For example, savings are achieved for the NHS, because people living in social housing are less likely to visit their GP or A&E, because they’re healthier.
Additionally, it makes the case to funders and policy makers for support and investment in the sector, by calculating the savings to the state, and benefits to other stakeholders.
The value of our social tenancies in 2023/24
The total social value of the 23,182 general needs homes we owned in 2023/24 was at least £640.5m, or £26,965 per tenancy. Each year, our social homes deliver:
- £110.5m at least in savings to the NHS
- £217.9m at least in economic benefits
- £45.6m at least in savings to local councils.
Download a summary of our VoST report for 2023/24 (PDF, 2MB)
Updating and expanding VoST in 2023/24
While VoST’s underlying financial data has been updated annually since 2018, the stories of tenants – the foundation of the model – needed updating, particularly in light of COVID and the cost of living crisis.
It was also felt that VoST would have greater impact if its scope was broadened. So for 2023/24, we joined forces with five other housing associations – A2Dominion, the Guinness Partnership, MTVH, Platform Housing Group and Sovereign Network Group (who together own and manage about 220,000 homes) to update the model.
These housing associations generated £5.2bn of social value last year, or £23,777 per social tenancy, saving the NHS more than £1bn and boosting economic activity by £1.8bn. It’s estimated the total value brought by England’s social housing sector is at least £77.7bn a year, for 4.2 million social properties.
As well as putting a value to each of our social tenancies, research identified new challenges for individuals, including in-work poverty and the impact of digital exclusion, and shows that in some areas, key workers are being priced out of the housing market, with an impact on critical services.
Research also shows how the vital support given by housing associations, particularly during COVID and the cost-of-living crisis, has widened the gap between those living in social housing, and those living in other situations.
Download a summary of the Value of a social tenancy research (PDF, 1MB). You can also download a copy of The Value of a Social Tenancy: Updating and developing the model in 2024: Main report (PDF, 2.5MB) and its appendices (PDF, 3.1MB).