The changing management of social housing: The impact of externalisation and managerialisation

The paper examines how the New Public Management (NPM) project has reshaped housing management in England and Wales. Historical tensions concerning th e nature and scope of housing management, and its recent establishment as a public sector profession, have been exacerbated by NPM. In particular, the two central NPM processes of externalisation and managerialisation have le d to the provision of new social housing by housing associations and the de velopment of rationalistic management. By exploring the changing nature of housing management in externalised housing associations, the paper illustra tes the complex ways in which property and welfare-based approaches to hous ing management are being played out. It is argued that managerial ism has w orked to define core business and a property-based approach at the expense of aspects of personal and welfare-based services. This process is being in tensified by new technologies as seen through the development of call centr es. Housing associations and the regulator have sought to recapture some as pects of the welfare approach to housing management to provide services to increasingly welfare-dependent tenants. However, the paper concludes that t he tensions between the property and welfare approaches are likely to lead to the domination of a property-based approach because of the ongoing manag erial and external pressures on housing associations.