Social housing needs to aim for higher standards in carpets and floor covering provision

We know that social housing is allocated to those in the most need who would usually be unable to access other housing options such as private rented accommodation and homeownership. We know that, in the main, social homes are allocated to those at a point of crisis, such as people experiencing homelessness or fleeing violent situations.

The demand for social housing is extremely high and those being offered accommodation often have little choice due to their circumstances and the approach of allocations processes but to say yes to accommodation. Tenants have a two in 10 chance of accommodation being provided with floor coverings, meaning that it is the norm for newly allocated properties to have bare floorboards or concrete across the living room, bedroom, hallway and stairs.

“I would like to present the challenge to executives and leaders in the sector: would you pay for a rental home with bare floorboards across the living room, bedrooms, hallway and stairs?”

Landlords have told us that the barriers for the installation of floor coverings are the financial cost to the organisation, delays to void processes, ongoing maintenance, and a lack of clarity around the relationship between landlords and tenants.

As we reflect on the barriers associated with the provision of floor coverings in social housing, we must also reflect on the good practice. Organisations such as Thirteen and L&Q have implemented a higher lettings standard across all homes, which includes the provision of carpets. In our discussions with leaders from both organisations they discussed providing homes they can be “proud of”.

It must not be forgotten that it is completely within an organisation’s gift to choose to adopt a higher reletting standard than that expected by their respective regulatory body.

“There should be consideration of the provision of floor coverings at point of let to negate future hardship and future dependencies on money advice and tenancy support functions”

We know that this research is well timed as social landlords are working hard to support their tenants during times of unprecedented hardship and doing so by growing their financial and tenancy support teams, increasing their hardship funds and energy funds.

Alongside these mechanisms, we believe that there should be consideration of the provision of floor coverings at point of let to negate future hardship and future dependencies on money advice and tenancy support functions. 

Our research project spans three years, and the next phase of our research is the experience of tenants. In addition, we are running a data collection programme to understand the impact of both the lack of and provision of floor coverings over time. We are still recruiting for social landlords to participate – both those that are installing floor coverings at point of let and those that are not – to be part of the programme.

If you’d be interested in taking part in the data collection programme or getting involved in the discussions in relation to tenants’ experience, please contact me on anne-marie.bancroft@altairltd.co.uk.

Anne-Marie Bancroft, principal consultant, Altair