Social housing reforms in England and Wales: A public choice evaluation

Public choice theory provides three main principles for the management of s ocial housing: market structures should be competitive; organisations shoul d be compelled to produce information on their efficiency and effectiveness ; and large agencies should be disaggregated into smaller units. Social hou sing reforms in England and Wales have largely reflected these principles. However, it is difficult to establish the impact of public choice policies because data on housing performance are incomplete, Furthermore, the effect s of housing reforms are clouded by a range of social and economic changes in the context of housing management, Nevertheless, the available evidence suggests that public choice principles have had contradictory effects: effi ciency and responsiveness have improved, but equity has deteriorated, Thus judgements on public choice theory depend on the weight attached to these d ifferent dimensions of performance.