University of Huddersfield

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Why we funded this project

This project was funded to help understand and raise awareness of the ways that the Covid-19 lockdown was experienced by people living in poor quality housing.

Strategic purpose

More robust evidence of the solutions to address the issues of cost, quality, security and access in the private rented sector is available and used to inform policy and practice.

Project description

By July 2020 it was clear that the Covid-19 pandemic was causing new problems for people living in poor quality homes, as well as exacerbating issues that were already well known. Therefore the Nationwide Foundation joined the Northern Housing Consortium to fund the University of Huddersfield to complete a short-term piece of research to build a picture of how the pandemic was being experienced by residents of poor quality homes.

Interviews took place with people living in poor quality homes in the north of England, as well as with the professionals whose job it was to support them.

These interviews were compiled in a report entitled Lockdown, Rundown, Breakdown, published in October 2020 by the University of Huddersfield along with the Northern Housing Consortium and the Nationwide Foundation.

The report highlighted a stark truth that for people who were living in poor quality housing, their housing conditions had made their experience of the lockdown harder, more stressful and more expensive. Interviewees reported feeling trapped, having excruciating financial pressure and having to restrict their daily lives so that they could avoid close contact with other residents with whom they were sharing accommodation.

This report is being used to influence decision-makers, as a call to improve the quality of housing in the north of England, as well as the rest of the UK.

University of Huddersfield 
Northern Housing Consortium

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