Housing through social enterprise- implications for tenants, housing providers and wider society (Commonhealth Project 7)

Housing through social enterprise- implications for tenants, housing providers and wider society (Commonhealth Project 7)

This project aimed to examine the ways in which different approaches to providing housing and working with tenants may affect health and wellbeing. The project worked with three housing organisations in west central Scotland, operating across the social and private rented sectors, tracking a cohort of new tenants over the first year of their tenancy.

The central finding from the study was that the behaviour of the landlord or housing organisation is key to whether tenants are able to make their house feel like home, which has significant impacts on health and wellbeing. Four foundations are important for this process – the relationship between the housing organisation and the tenant, the quality of the property, affordability, and tenants’ degree of choice regarding neighbourhood.

The final report and recommendations from the research are available here.

The project was delivered by the University of Stirling, in partnership with the Glasgow Centre for Population Health. It was part of the CommonHealth research programme, based at Glasgow Caledonian University.