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Picture: Getty
Picture: Getty

Social housing tenants talk about negative media stereotyping

Three social tenants share their stories of how negative media portrayals are affecting them, as the Benefit to Society campaign to set the record straight gathers pace. Sarah Newey reports

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How do negative media portrayals affect social tenants? #ukhousing

Three social tenants explain how media stereotypes are affecting them #ukhousing

Benefit to Society campaign aims to combat negative media stereotyping of tenants #ukhousing

Almost four million households live in social housing in Britain, yet the national narrative represents them as one homogenous group – work-shy, lazy people on benefits – according to the Benefit to Society campaign.

The campaign, created by a group of housing associations, tenants and journalists and backed by Inside Housing, aims to address stereotypes of social housing tenants in the media.


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“We just had a lot of tenants being quite fed up at the way they were portrayed in public perspective,” says Catherine Little, assistant director of strategy and governance at Soha Housing, which has helped organise the campaign. “We all had the same perception that there’s an unhelpful narrative about social housing tenants.”

Tenants have been sharing their stories as part of the campaign, in an effort to humanise the statistics, which show that just 7% of social housing tenants are unemployed, and 70% are working or retired, according to English Housing Survey data.

The campaign aims to highlight the impact stereotypes have on tenants’ daily lives and demonstrate that they’re “normal people living a normal life”.

We spoke to three tenants about their experiences of stereotyping, and why they think Benefit to Society is so important.

Tenant share their stories

Tenant share their stories

Victoria Dingle

University of Oxford graduate Victoria Dingle has lived in social housing for two years, since her marriage fell apart following her diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis.

She now lives in Henley with her young daughter, but has been surprised by people’s reactions when she tells them she’s a social housing tenant.

“People’s faces change when I say I rent from a housing association. My daughter does ballet classes and some parents are very affluent. If I say that I rent from a housing association then some of them stop talking to me. I want to ask them, ‘what do you think people in social housing are like?’ Everyone thinks that those who live in social housing are claiming benefits, but I’m highly educated.”

“We’re just normal people living a normal life, who have had bad luck or simply can’t afford to rent in the private sector. I’m so fed up with people judging me. I’m no different to anyone else. If you think I rented privately and then find out I don’t, how does that change me?”

Tenants share their stories 2

Claire Hughes

Claire Hughes has lived in social housing for most of her life. She brought up her two daughters with her husband on an estate in Oxford, and has many stories to share about the impact of stereotypes.

“When my eldest daughter was at secondary school, some parents wouldn’t let her friends come round to our house because we lived on an estate which used to have a bad name in the late 1980s and early 1990s. We’ve lived here for 13 years and never had a problem. It’s an example of people making judgements about a geographical area, which caused friendship issues for my daughter.

“My other daughter’s primary school is just around the corner. It’s a really lovely school, with good Ofsted ratings, but certain families I know wouldn’t send their children there because lots of ‘estate children’ go. People read and hear things from others and make assumptions, rather than doing investigations themselves.”

“People read and hear things from others and make assumptions.”

Ms Hughes is incredibly proud of her daughters. Her eldest, Courtney, set up ‘Charity Secret Santa Oxfordshire’, which collects gifts and donations for older and vulnerable people; and her youngest, Megan, is a BBC actress. But Ms Hughes thinks the national narrative about social housing tenants encourages a different perception.

“If you were to ask the general population they would say we’re unemployed, lazy, scroungers, undereducated – but I think people should be celebrating the stories of people in social housing, who often go out of their way to help others. If people could see the diversity I think they’d realise it’s no different to people who have their own houses.”

Tenants share their stories 3

Siobhan Trice

Siobhan Trice has also been on the receiving end of stereotypes. A business officer for an ecological consultancy firm, she grew up in social housing and moved into an intermediate rent property with her husband and two young sons in May 2016.

“There’s a negative stereotype that we’re from the bottom end of society. It’s something I’ve experienced as an adult and also growing up as a child. There’s a reluctance of people to approach you or say hello – there’s a fear of who’s living behind the door, when actually it’s usually a well brought up, honest family.

“There’s a reluctance of people to approach you or say hello.”

“People wrongly assume that I’m scrounging on benefits or having anti-social issues. I found this more of an issue as a child, but even now when where I live comes up in conversation people seem almost surprised that I live a normal life. People seem quite shocked that social housing exists where I live, in a nice rural area. That comes from the media.

“Stories always focus on the negative angle, which is what annoys me the most. I’m incredibly proud to live in social housing; it’s like gold dust – there’s a massive fight to have the opportunity to live in social housing tenancies as they’re incredibly secure and give you peace of mind. But I can’t put a finger on a positive story surrounding social housing tenants.”

Benefit to Society

Benefit to Society

A group of 14 associations and their tenants have got together to challenge common narratives about social housing residents through a campaign called Benefit to Society.

As part of this, the campaign has produced a Fair Press for Tenants guide to help journalists portray social tenants and social housing fairly.

Inside Housing is backing the campaign and will help fact-check and scrutinise articles that portray tenants in a negative light.

Send examples of unfair, misleading or inaccurate reports about social housing tenants to carl.brown@insidehousing.co.uk.

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