From house to home: Residents’ perceptions of housing modernisation

Despite a forty-year history of housing modernisation in England and the unrivalled scale of the recent Decent Homes programme, very little is known about the views and experiences of residents as the immediate beneficiaries. This paper aims to address this absent perspective by drawing on data generated through qualitative research in two neighbourhoods in a Yorkshire city. The paper draws on 49 in-depth interviews with residents, conducted over a period of three years. The findings reveal that, following the completion of modernisation works, residents reported significant improvements in the appearance, functionality and manageability of their properties; they felt more proud of their homes and were more likely to make additional improvements to them. More generally, it was evident that many residents had experienced a step change in the way they felt about their properties and described a transition from ‘house to home’. In conclusion, it is argued that, although the programme has delivered significant improvements in terms of the residential quality of life that residents experience, the overall impact of the programme is being diluted by several factors, most notably the emphasis placed on ‘bricks and mortar’ by the Decent Homes programme.