Understanding the opportunities and challenges presented by welfare reform

New research conducted by Ipsos on behalf of Viridian Housing shows that two-way understanding between social landlords and tenants will be key to responding to welfare reforms.

The research – comprising a telephone survey and qualitative research conducted on behalf of housing association Viridian – explored the experiences, attitudes and behaviours of tenants in respect of the ‘bedroom tax’ and other welfare reforms to better understand how to use interventions and incentives to encourage them to pay rent and downsize.

The findings have a number of implications for Viridian and other landlords across the sector:

• Customers who had received face-to-face visits or telephone calls from housing officers were much more likely to engage with the changes, suggesting more personalised relationships are important
• Those prepared to move tended to be at a life stage where moving was appropriate (often because they had children who had recently moved out), and these windows of opportunity will be important to encourage the right people to downsize
• Those considering moving were likely to have considered moving before becoming affected by the ‘bedroom tax’, but often had specific requirements which will need to be met to encourage people to downsize
• In order to move, customers wanted support in looking for suitable homes rather than large cash incentives (much of which they anticipated would be spent on the cost of moving and renovating any new property anyway
• Almost all customers said rent was their top priority, but those with lower financial resilience and capability and with a lower understanding of how the ‘bedroom tax’ affected them were more likely to default on their rent payments
• Financial incentives were a popular idea among customers to encourage them to pay their rent on time, but they also acknowledged that the risk of eviction if they fell behind with the rent was an important factor

Resources Link to Viridian’s press release Download data tables for the survey (PDF)  Download the full report (PDF)

Technical note Ipsos interviewed a representative sample of 100 of Viridian’s customers affected by the ‘bedroom tax’, and 100 customers not affected. Interviews were conducted by telephone between 15 March and 23 April 2013, with an average length of 14 minutes. Data are weighted to match the profile of Viridian’s affected and non-affected customer base by region and number of children in the household.

In addition, qualitative research was conducted in the form of 15 depth interviews exclusively among affected customers.