Stories of Home: new findings from a Shelter and IKEA research partnership

We’ve heard from more than 1,000 social tenants so far

Shelter is carrying out a major longitudinal research project, funded by IKEA, looking at the impact of moving into a social rent home. The project has been up and running since 2024, and so far, more than 1,000 social tenants have taken part. More than 50 social landlords have also been involved to help us reach new social tenants.

We want to build a robust longitudinal evidence base to show the impact of moving into a social home. Many of the social tenants who have taken part in the project were previously privately renting or experiencing homelessness.

The research project is a pivotal step in Shelter and IKEA’s partnership that sees our two organisations joining forces to defend the one thing we value most: home. Together, we’re calling for the delivery of 90,000 social rent homes each year over 10 years to end the housing emergency. To do that, we need a comprehensive plan to get councils building again, including cancelling historic council housing debt and boosting the funding for social homes to the scale the housing emergency demands.

New qualitative insights

Shelter commissioned Housing Associations’ Charitable Trust (HACT) to carry out the research project. So far, HACT has interviewed 44 people as part of the project. 25 of these people have taken part in two interviews to explore their experiences six to nine months after moving into their social home, and 13 have taken part in three interviews to explore their experience up to a year after moving in.

The findings from the qualitative interviews give us an early insight into the final research findings from the longitudinal survey, including the medium and longer-term benefits of moving into a social rent home. The interviews allow us to delve into the survey findings in more detail, and explore why we’re seeing particular impacts. We’ve seen three key findings come through strongly in the interviews so far:

1. The immediate benefits to people’s health are sustained

The ‘More than Bricks’ interim report highlighted the many immediate improvements to people’s health and wellbeing after moving into a social rent home. Within three months, six in ten (61%) tenants have seen a meaningful improvement to their mental health as a result of moving into a social home. The initial survey results show that moving into a social home quickly improves people’s health and wellbeing.

The qualitative research findings reinforce the immediate improvements to people’s health and wellbeing and develop our understanding around why we’re seeing these changes sustain over time. People told us that their health immediately improved due to four key reasons: more stability and privacy, reduced stress and better sleep, being able to better manage their health and improved cooking and eating habits.

My sleep quality has been better, because obviously being in my own room, not with my child, has been easier, like because he can sleep better and I can sleep better.’ Cynthia

2. Positive financial impacts emerge more fully over time

Social rent homes are the only genuinely affordable homes with rents tied to local incomes, which means that moving into a social home usually results in lower, more manageable housing costs. We know that social rents are, on average, a third of private rents. Almost nine in 10 (87%) homeless households struggle with the cost of their temporary accommodation. Many interviewees were struggling to save and afford essentials in their previous home. This was particularly the case for single parent households and single adults living alone.

There are significant immediate improvements to people’s financial situations after moving into a social rent home. Cheaper social rent has a knock-on effect on other essential spending, including utility bills. Indeed, around half of interviewees reported an improved financial situation after moving in and most of these changes are due to lower rent or bills. Improved finances have a positive impact on people’s health too, with many tenants reporting improved health due to being in a better financial situation.

‘Financially it's been really good because… before I was in private renting and then that's obviously a lot more expensive than living in social housing so that's been really good for budgeting and so [being] able to like save up for things which been really good.’ Ceclia

However, some of the financial benefits emerge more fully over time due to the upfront costs of moving and furnishing their new home. Shelter has previously called for all social homes to come with proper floor coverings like carpet to reduce the upfront cost of moving. Social tenants are better able to save after they’ve lived in their social home for a few months. In the medium to long term, people start to plan for the future, including looking for new training and employment opportunities and learning new skills, as Cecilia’s story shows.

‘I did want to do my driving lessons. I couldn't afford it, and so when we moved here and once we were settled here, I was able to save up for lessons. So yeah, so that's another positive impact I've been able to save for driving lessons.’ Cecilia

3. Connections with the local community strengthen in the longer term

Social homes can foster a sense of belonging for adults and children due to the long-term stability they provide. The ‘More than Bricks’ interim report found that many tenants feel more connected to their local community shortly after moving into a social home. Indeed, we found that almost half (46%) of social tenants felt a sense of belonging to the neighbourhood within just three months of moving into their new social home. In contrast, they did not feel a sense of belonging in their previous accommodation. Social tenants also reported to more regularly talking with their neighbours and making new friends, as Freddie’s story shows.

‘I have made a lot of wonderful friends, 15 to 20 of the people here now I know their names and I’m talking to on a regular basis. [..] f you’re feeling down, you go and speak to a few of them, that has been a huge, huge help. [..] Before, it could be very, very lonely and not having friends there. That was bad. It was very, very hard.’ Freddie

Emerging findings from these interviews suggest that people’s connections with neighbours and their wider community are strengthened over time. This is often because people have embedded their routines, are more settled in their community and have started new activities or hobbies, as Clifford’s story shows.

‘For the first time in years, I’m starting to think about hobbies. I used to do a lot of photography [..] So I was starting to think about starting up again.’ Clifford

We must boost council delivery to achieve mass social rent delivery

To deliver 90,000 social rent homes a year for the next 10 years, we need to significantly boost council delivery. To do this, we need to cancel historic council housing debt and increase the funding for social homes, as we set out in our Roadmap to the future of council homes.

Historic housing debt is a significant barrier to councils delivering more social rent homes. In 2012, councils were saddled with debt through a housing finance agreement which has now grown to £31.8bn. The debt was meant to be sustainable for councils to pay back - but successive governments broke their side of the agreement, for example by increasing Right to Buy sales so councils had to pay back the same debt with less income from homes.

Paying interest on this debt is sucking money away that could otherwise be invested in desperately needed social homes. Recent work carried out by Savills for Shelter shows that for every £1 billion of debt removed, councils could deliver 8,900 new social rent homes. If the full debt was removed, councils could deliver 284,000 new social rent homes.

Sign our new petition calling on the government to get councils building social homes, or read our full research briefing on the benefits of social homes.