Social Housing Organisations in England and The Netherlands

Rapid and deep changes in society, the economy and policy over the last
decades
are having an increasing impact on the delivery of social housing in
North Western Europe. These changes are transforming the way in which social
housing providers perform their task and are reshaping their relationships
with the State, communities and with other market actors. The combination of
continued State withdrawal from service provision, the deep and persistent
effects of the global financial crisis that begun in 2008 and profound changes
in the type of demand for social housing across North Western Europe call for
a reflection on the implications of these phenomena
for social housing
providers. Several studies indicate that social housing providers in Europe
have begun to adopt new (social) entrepreneurial strategies and are becoming
more innovative as a response to these challenges. These strategies imply
tackling the tensions between (at times) conflicting drivers, notably those
arising from the State, the market and communities. However, research in this
topic so far is fragmented, focussing on one country or on specific sub-areas
such as asset management and non-housing activities and rarely connects with
the relevant wider literature on the third sector and social enterprise.

Within this context, this PhD research has sought to widen this discussion by
providing new insights through a comparative study of the ways in which
individual social housing providers are relating to (i.e. responding to and
influencing) these contextual changes. More specifically, the research sought
to better understand the complex process of decision-making these companies
undergo to manage their responses to competing drivers. Companies operating in
two countries (England and The Netherlands) were studied in-depth. In both
countries, the social rental sector has played a prominent role in their
respective welfare states for decades. While both are amongst countries with
the highest share of social rental housing in Europe, each represents a
different type of welfare state and of social housing provision - following
Kemeny’s classification, a unitary system (the Netherlands) and a dualist
system (England).