Social housing and the "new localism" : a strategy of governance for austere times

Abstract

Drawing upon research on Scottish social housing policy, this chapter highlights how the ‘new localism’ represents a mentality of rule that seeks to govern people through their bonds and attachments to place-based communities. In a period of austerity, the mobilisation of the voluntary and community sector has been at the heart of public policy reforms. This is clearly visible in Scotland, whereby policy has sought to re-imagine housing associations as ‘community-anchor organisations’ affording them a key-role in tackling place-based inequalities. However, the empirical data also underlines the messiness of projects of rule, and how power’s effects can never be guaranteed.