Would you be comfortable living in a home with bare floorboards? Longleigh Foundation, a grant-making charity dedicated to supporting individuals and communities served by the social housing sector, has released a groundbreaking report highlighting the urgent need for improved floor covering provisions in social housing across England, Scotland, and Wales.
The Reality: A Hidden Crisis
Our extensive research, commissioned and conducted by Altair (a consultancy specialising in the social housing sector) reveals a deeply concerning reality: an estimated 760,000 adults in social housing may be living without floor coverings. This shocking statistic represents as many as 15% of households in social housing with almost four out of five social housing tenants moving into homes with partial or no floor coverings.
Living without floor coverings significantly impacts tenants’ lives and through our research, we have learned that children feel embarrassed to bring friends home to play, making community connections harder to establish and leads to social isolation during critical stages of their development. The absence of proper flooring contributes to poor mental health and reinforces social housing stigma where tenants have felt labelled as ‘poor’. Additionally, it results in increased noise-related complaints and neighbour disputes due to sound transference between homes. As a charity committed to the welfare and social justice of individuals served by the housing sector, we find this situation completely unacceptable.
Disparities Across the UK
While Wales has implemented a new quality standard for floor coverings and secured funding to meet it, Scotland benefits from national welfare funding specifically allocated for providing flooring. However, social housing tenants in England are not offered the same standards or funding and we think these disparities must be rectified to ensure that all social tenants have access to safe and decent living conditions.
Benefits of Floor Coverings
Our research shows several benefits associated with providing floor coverings:
-
Social Return on Investment: By including the provision of floor coverings as part of a wider package of essential furniture, a social return on investment of £7,673 can be achieved. This investment not only improves living conditions but also contributes to overall wellbeing.
-
Emotional and Wellbeing Benefits: Having decent floor coverings at the point of let turns a house into a warm and inviting home, creating a sense of comfort, security and positively impacts mental health. Tenants experience reduced feelings of stigma and have an increased sense of pride and belonging in their living environment.
-
Economic Opportunities: Ensuring that floor coverings are provided at the point of let and that existing good quality carpet is not removed at the end of a tenancy offers economic opportunities including increased employment and skill development in floor fitting which can positively impact local communities.
Tenants have told us that:
-
“I’m still trying to floor my house 6 years on.”
-
“People who end up in social housing and go into empty properties without flooring or furnishing – it is like a concrete prison cell.”
-
“I had a mosaic of different rugs in my house. The rugs weren’t very aesthetically pleasing but it was something which is better than nothing.”
Longleigh Foundation is calling for collaborative efforts to raise awareness and advocate for funding and policy changes so that all social renters have access to decent living conditions. We invite stakeholders, any and all individuals who are passionate about levelling the field to reflect on the research findings and join in lobbying the government for increased funding to improve floor covering standards.
Call to Action
We call on politicians, officials, and social landlords to take action:
- Funding: The government must allocate funding to improve floor covering standards in social housing. Access to decent living conditions is a basic right, regardless of income or savings.
-
Awareness: We urge everyone to raise awareness about the benefits of floor coverings. By working together, we can advocate for policy changes that benefit social renters.
-
Landlord Responsibility: We ask landlords to read the report and consider its recommendations on what more they can do—such as stopping the removal of perfectly decent flooring unless the incoming tenant requests this.
Aileen Edmunds, CEO at Longleigh Foundation states: “Our research has shown that leaving tenants without floor coverings can lead to feelings of stigma and a lack of homeliness. For individuals living in social housing, their house should be more than just a dwelling—it should feel like a home.
Yes, there are costs, and our report details them transparently. Landlords should consider the long-term gains. The return on investment from improved floor coverings may well outweigh the initial expenses.”