Makeover for unpopular housing

Social housing needs to be rebranded and traditional allocations policies revamped to tackle the national issue of low demand, a Whitehall team is expected to tell ministers.

The unpopularity of housing estates across the country - not just those in the north - is likely to be highlighted by is now being seen as the most important of the Social Exclusion Unit's action teams on housing.

It is understood that the Policy Action Team on unpopular housing, not due to report until July, will stress that low demand for social housing is a national problem.

The team is believed to favour abandoning the system of letting social housing on the basis of need, at least in some areas.

It is expected to point out that although much of the housing in London and the South East is fully occupied, it is still very unpopular with residents.

The team will make a distinction between unpopular housing in north where residents have the choice to abandon it, and unpopular housing in the south where tenants have no choice but to stay.

This conclusion is likely to lead to radical recommendations about how social housing can be rebranded to become more popular. This will include a re-think of the allocation system.

Shelter director Chris Holmes, who is also a member of the team, said: "There is clear evidence of unpopular housing in both low and high demand areas."

He said he could not prejudge the team's report, but added: "There are some important challenges in low demand areas for rebranding social rented housing by opening it up more and marketing it to people of working age."

But he gave an insight into the debate that has taken place in the team by pointing out that if allocations were relaxed in south, more homeless people would end up in bed and breakfast accommodation.

Anne Power professor of social policy at the London School of Economics said she could not comment on the work of team of which she is also a member.

But her personal view was that social housing could be made more attractive by opening it up to half the population with incomes below the national average. She said: "I have been arguing for a long time that low demand is a really major problem."

National Housing Federation chief executive Jim Coulter said: "The low demand action team is going to be vital to the politics of the debate about social housing so in one sense it is the most important of the housing suite."

He added: "Low demand is not so much a north-south divide it's about the whole issue of the value placed on social housing and what it is for."