Current system of funding housing does not work, says Clarion report

Clarion has called for the funding of housing to be overhauled as part of a new ‘social contract’

The 109,000-home association in a report to its 125^th anniversary, said the way housing is paid for needs to change.

“The current system, with funding for housing associations pared away over several decades, does not equip us to meet the scale of the challenges we now face. New ideas – whether, for example, funding housing as infrastructure, or funding through land value capture – must not only be debated but be urgently agreed and implemented if current trends are to be halted and reversed”, it said.

The report, titled I am Home Therefore I Am: Five New Giants for Opportunity is inspired by the Beveridge report and brings together nine think pieces across housing, health, design, economics, technology and lived experience to look at the forces that will shape social housing over the next century. It said we need to look “wider than the traditional role of a housing provider.

It said: “The think pieces show us how inter-connected global trends all play out at a local level, affecting people’s lives. Housing is a pressure point, where social challenges are manifested, but it is also a tool for improving lives. If people are housed well, in functioning, supportive communities, so much more is possible.”

“We propose a new contract for social housing: a partnership between Clarion and its residents, between Clarion and its network of stakeholders, and between citizens and their government. Housing is essential infrastructure, with its purpose grounded in improving lives rather than merely providing shelter. But it is also a pressure point where global trends – climate change, demographic shifts, and economic pressures – play out locally.

“To respond, Clarion must think beyond traditional roles, scaling up innovation and collaboration to build supportive, sustainable communities.”

The report lists five ‘giants of opportunity’, namely connection, resilience, sufficiency, trust and health. This echoes the “five giant evils” of “want, disease, ignorance, squalor, and idleness” that the 1942 Beveridge report suggested the welfare state should tackle.