Abstract/Summary

Better, more reliable social valuation data to inform the procurement of public authority social housing provision has become seen as a priority for efficient, or ‘best value’, monetary resource allocation in the United Kingdom (UK). Meanwhile, the UK political agenda has come to recognise the significance for productivity and economic development of societal mental well-being. There is a wealth of scientific evidence on associations between the physical conditions of the home and population health and well-being. However, micro panel data used by the UK Housing Associations’ Charitable Trust (HACT) and reports by Social Value UK, have identified a deficit of empirical data on housing and environmental conditions, design and quality, that have a bearing on mental well-being for incorporation in public sector social valuation. While the medical sciences have increasingly recognised the value of qualitative approaches for understanding mental well-being as individually experienced in peoples’ everyday lives, positivist policy-focused approaches to housing economics have been critiqued as neglecting social theory. Accordingly, this thesis addresses the gap in evidence on the relationship between social housing characteristics and mental well-being as experienced by residents, by adopting a post-positivist research approach. In-depth interviews with twenty long-term residents of the Orts Road social housing estate in Reading, South-East England, explore the effects of the home on their sense of mental well-being, emotional health, autonomy, and ability to participate actively in society. The residents' narratives reveal their perceived levels of adjusting to their dwellings and the coping techniques they employ to navigate their mixed feelings about their living situations. Residents emphasise the importance of social connections, a strong sense of community, and local facilities that foster sociability and cohesiveness, for overall happiness and a thriving community. The findings demonstrate the significant influence of housing design and quality on residents' experiences of autonomy and mental well-being in the social production of their overall health. The research makes three original contributions. Firstly, the results offer qualitative empirical evidence of the relationship between housing design, quality, occupant sense of autonomy and mental well-being to inform the development of improved public sector social valuation in housing services procurement. Secondly, by employing social constructionist and structuration theories in a modified structuration conceptual framework, the research sheds light on how a system of social housing provision that pays regard to resident lived experiences of mental well-being and functioning, could bring government social value and economic objectives into closer alignment. Thirdly, the research contributes to ongoing scholarly discourse on the challenges of improving the dialogue between qualitative and quantitative approaches to analysis in the linked fields of social valuation and housing studies.