Millions of households across the UK and Ireland live in social housing; many of those are satisfied with their homes and their landlords, yet evidence continues to show that too many people still feel unheard, disbelieved, or poorly served when they raise concerns.
This page brings together CIH's policy and practice work on culture, stigma, and resident voice, as well as research, tools, and resources from across the sector. It is designed to support housing professionals across all jurisdictions in understanding what genuine tenant focused culture looks like in practice, reflecting honestly on their own organisation's approach, and working alongside residents to track whether things are improving. Some resources are available to all; others are exclusive to CIH members. We have also included links to wider sector resources that you may find useful.
The Grenfell Tower inquiry findings highlighted that the fire was not just due to failures of regulation or technical systems; it was also a failure to properly listen to residents and work with them to help keep them safe and well.
However, it is important to recognise that this was not a situation unique to Grenfell, and the tragedy revealed much deeper, systemic problems in how social housing residents have been treated historically, particularly in England. The lived experience of residents and communities has not always been utilised effectively, resulting at times in their knowledge being discounted, concerns being minimised, and assumptions being made about how residents live their lives.
The response to tackle this can be seen throughout the evolving regulatory and legislative changes across the nations. While specific requirements vary by jurisdiction – such as the revised consumer standards from the Regulator of Social Housing in England, and parallel regulatory enhancements by the Scottish Housing Regulator, Welsh Government and Department for Communities Housing Regulation Branch (Northern Ireland) – the collective shift has increased the focus on transparency, accountability and communication. Similarly, the scrutiny of ombudsmen services has reinforced this priority. However, culture change is needed alongside that work, and this is why CIH's policy and practice work connects directly to our wider work on culture, stigma and professional standards.
Stigma is connected to culture, and evidence shows that social housing residents face negative assumptions not only about where they live but also about how they live and who they are. These assumptions can mean that their concerns and preferences are not always fully taken into account. This can become embedded in how services are delivered, and decisions are made. When resident concerns are not handled in a way that builds trust, problems escalate, and relationships break down.
The sector has made real progress in terms of addressing these issues, both through jurisdictional regulatory reforms and good practice. However, the depth of structural change required goes beyond compliance and demands ongoing, honest reflection on culture and on whether the people most affected by housing decisions have a genuine voice in shaping them. It is also important to understand what progress is being made, what remains to be done, and how we can track and monitor the changes.
Measuring What Matters: Tackling Structural Stigma in Social Housing
Measuring What Matters is a CIH policy paper that explores how the sector can improve its understanding of and response to what matters most to residents. It makes the case that current performance frameworks often miss what is most important: whether residents feel heard, whether their knowledge is taken seriously, and whether organisations are genuinely learning from what residents tell them.
The paper draws on resident-led research, Housing Ombudsman spotlight reports, and academic work on epistemic injustice and territorial stigma. It was runner-up in the 2025 Thinkhouse Early Career Researcher Prize.
Measuring What Matters builds on longitudinal doctoral research undertaken with residents on a social housing estate in the North-West of England. While this specific research was rooted in a local English context, the underlying dynamics of structural exclusion, stigma and the erosion of resident voice offer universal insights for housing providers.
The research was ethically approved and used in-depth narrative interviews to explore what community means to residents and what happens when the spaces, networks, and relationships that sustain it are lost or removed.
The research found that residents were frequently excluded from decisions about their own neighbourhoods. Community spaces that residents valued as places for connection, safety, and mutual support had been closed or removed, often without meaningful involvement of the people most affected. Residents described losing not just facilities but their sense of belonging and ability to feel at home.
A key thread running through the findings was the role of entrenched assumptions about social housing communities in shaping those decisions. Meta-narratives about estates and the people who live on them had become embedded in policy and practice, displacing the knowledge and experience of residents themselves. The research provides a counter-narrative, prioritising resident voice and challenging policy that has become detached from the people it affects.
You can explore the research and its findings, including resident quotes and visual outputs, on the project blog. This research directly informed the thinking behind Measuring What Matters and underpins CIH's wider work on stigma, which is explored in the next section.
Understanding and measuring culture change
Knowing that culture needs to change is one thing. Understanding whether it is actually changing is another. The sector has made significant progress in developing performance frameworks, such as tenant satisfaction measures or annual performance reports, alongside varying national consumer standards, but these primarily capture what services deliver rather than how organisations think, listen and respond. Measuring culture requires different tools and a different set of questions.
CIH's policy work in this area has developed a practical framework for thinking about what responsive housing governance looks like, built around three interconnected elements: whether resident knowledge and lived experience is treated as credible within decision-making; whether organisations are genuinely learning from what residents tell them; and whether the wider narratives and assumptions that surround social housing are shaping how services are delivered. Together these offer a way of assessing not just what an organisation does, but how it operates.
This framework is explored in depth in the Culture, Credibility and Decision-Making paper, which received a special commendation in the HSA Valerie Karn Prize 2026, and in the parliamentary briefing developed to support CIH's engagement with policymakers on stigma and resident voice.
Tackling stigma in social housing
Stigma in social housing is not just about how residents are perceived by wider society. It shapes how services are delivered, how complaints are handled, and whose concerns are taken seriously. Research shows that negative assumptions about social housing residents and the communities they live in can become embedded in organisational culture, affecting decision-making in ways that are often unintentional but nonetheless real in their impact. Tackling stigma requires housing professionals to reflect honestly on their own practice and to work alongside residents as partners, not just as service users.
Key guides and reports
The following guides and reports bring together key evidence and practical tools to help your organisation understand and tackle stigma. They range from accessible introductions to more detailed research and practitioner resources.
Stop Social Housing Stigma is a campaign led by researchers, residents, and sector organisations including CIH, TPAS, Durham University, and Sheffield Hallam University. In May 2025, the campaign launched the Tackling Stigma Journey Planner at a parliamentary event, providing a practical framework for landlords and residents to work together to identify and address stigma in their own organisations.
Our practical guide to understanding and challenging stigma in social housing, covering what it looks like, where it comes from, and what housing professionals can do about it.
In 2022, CIH and the National Housing Federation led a wide-ranging review of the social housing sector in England. However, its findings regarding operational culture, quality, and structural discrimination offer vital reflection points for housing providers across all nations.
Developed with Durham University, Sheffield Hallam University, CIH, TPAS and YD Consultants, the Journey Planner is a practical tool to help landlords and residents work together to tackle stigma. Launched in Parliament in May 2025.
An ESRC-funded research project examining inequalities in later life connected to intersections of stigma, place and age. CIH sits on the ECR network for this project.
RECAP is a new CIH project in England, delivered in collaboration with the National Housing Maintenance Forum (NHMF), designed to change that. Building on the Rethinking Repairs and Maintenance (RERAM) project and its 12 guiding principles, RECAP will develop a free Resident Scrutiny Toolkit, co-designed with residents, alongside a Culture and Accountability Framework for landlords and contractors.
RECAP will be active at several sector events over the coming months. If you would like to be involved or kept up to date, please use the main RECAP page to learn more.
This research report, commissioned by CIH Scotland and carried out by Indigo House, explores both the strengths and areas for improvement in leadership and culture across Scotland’s social housing sector, and calls on the Scottish Government to introduce a new Scottish Social Housing Charter outcome to recognise the skills and professionalism of housing.
Learn more from our events and training
January 2026 - This webinar looks at what effective action on stigma looks like in practice, moving beyond awareness to explore how housing organisations can do things differently. A recording is available for members.
July 2025 - This webinar explored how landlords can better reach and respond to tenants whose voices are too often missing from engagement processes. Read the blog for seven key takeaways.
December 2024 - Following the publication of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 2 report, this webinar explored the implications of the findings for culture and resident engagement across the sector. Read the blog for six key takeaways.
June 2026 - This webinar explored how boards and scrutiny panels can better reflect and include the voices of ethnic minority tenants, and what good practice looks like.
This course explores how landlords can move beyond data collection to genuinely understand resident experience, and use that understanding to drive real and lasting service improvement. Running January 2027.
Further resources
The following resources from across the sector offer useful further reading on stigma, resident voice and culture change. CIH has been involved in or contributed to a number of these, and we think they are worth your time alongside our own work.
- TPAS: Is there a seat at the table?
- Stop Social Housing Stigma campaign
- SSHS: widespread, structural, deeply felt
- G15: Taking the stigma out of social housing, the residents' view
- Flagship Housing: Breaking Barriers report
- Housing Ombudsman Spotlight report
- Places for People poll and results
- Scottish Housing Regulator national panel of tenants and service users
- Tenant Participation Advisory Service (TPAS) Scotland
- Tenants Information Service
- Tenants Together Scotland
- Democracy Starts at Home: CIH 2018 report
