The 2022 Prize Results
The winner was Joseph Elliot and Rachelle Earwaker of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation who co-authored "Renters on low incomes face a policy black hole: homes for social rent are the answer"
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The runner-up was Abi Travers of Runnymede/Cardiff Metropolitan University for her paper "Safeguarding Adults: An evaluation into the involvement of Housing Associations in England"
Winner
Renters on low incomes face a policy black hole: homes for social rent are the answer
This briefing analyses the large number of households on low incomes paying rents they cannot afford in the private rented sector. It provides new analysis on the depth and geographical spread of this problem and examines the Government’s policy response, which is not currently succeeding either in making renting more affordable or in making homeownership accessible to this group.
It shows why significantly increasing the supply of homes for social rent is the solution – 90,000 a year for the next 15 years – and sets out the level of investment the Government should commit to at this autumn’s Comprehensive Spending Review to deliver them.
Runner Up
Safeguarding Adults: An evaluation into the involvement of Housing Associations in England
At a time of competing commercial pressures, Safeguarding Adults is an activity in which Housing Associations in England are becoming increasingly involved. In December 2020, the Local Government Association published a report presenting the findings of the first thematic analysis of 231 Safeguarding Adult Reviews. It highlighted that the most common location for abuse is in the home, and that the second only to a Care Home setting, the most prevalent type of accommodation of individuals subject to a review is within social housing.
Despite this being the case, the work of Social Landlords in this area is largely unrecognised, with only 0.84 per cent of SAR recommendations referencing them, and little formal recognition from Statutory Partners. This paper sets out to understand why this is the case, by drawing on previous research and interviewing housing and Safeguarding practitioners in the current day.