Third sector responses to a changing market and policy context: Housing Associations and Market Renting in the UK

A dynamic environment has seen Housing Associations increase their market renting activity. One consequence has been the need to reconcile tensions between their original social purpose and commercial decision making.Housing associations in the United Kingdom are operating within a radically altered and rapidly changing policy context. The research sought to understand how organisations were responding to this dynamic environment.
The research originated in the convergence of a number of factors shaping an agenda for housing associations to engage with market renting:
•the growth of private renting within a changing housing system (changing market and client expectations);
•Government policy encouraging institutional investment in the private rented sector (changing market and policy); and
•the impact of funding and welfare reform on the operating environment of housing associations, including a trend towards commercialisation and diversification (policy and organisational responses).

The methodology included an online survey of housing associations operating in the North East and North West of England, a previously researched geographical area; a round table discussion with senior local, regional and national stakeholder representatives; interviews with senior professionals from seventeen organisations; and interviews with national stakeholders.

Analyses of respondents’ strategic decision making in relation to market renting identified complex and multi-dimensional influences. A range of external and internal push and pull forces were occurring at the same time. Moreover, it was apparent that similar forces could exert both positive and negative forces, depending on the local context and the form and culture of the organisation. The research sought to understand how organisations were responding to that evolving policy context through the analyses of organisations’ decision making and management of change.

This research has implications for strategic decision makers in housing associations in terms of how they respond to a changing environment. It is important they understand how, in combination with the fundamental influence of the local market, complex interconnected forces inform decisions and shape organisational outcomes.