We are pleased to announce that we have worked in partnership with The Hyde Group to deliver the latest iteration of their landmark social housing impact framework, the “Value of a Social Tenancy” (VoST) model. First developed in 2018 by Sonnet and Hyde, the model continues to evolve and now provides refreshed evidence on the social, economic and public-service returns generated by secure, affordable housing.
Why this matters
The housing challenge facing the UK is considerable: insecure or unaffordable accommodation undermines individual wellbeing, employment prospects, community cohesion and places greater strain on public services and the economy. The report emphasises that without well-managed social housing, there would be “more people out of work, more pressure on the NHS, and more crime, costing the public purse and damaging our society.”
The VoST model provides a robust, evidence-based means of quantifying the difference that stable social tenancies can make – in other words, what life looks like with social housing versus without it (temporary accommodation, poor quality private rental or living with family/friends).
What the latest findings show
In the most recent analysis published by Hyde, the headline results include:
-
For The Hyde Group’s 23,182 general needs homes in 2023/24, the total social value was estimated at at least £640.5 million – equivalent to around £26,965 per tenancy.
-
The value comprises significant savings to public services: at least £110.5 million in NHS savings, £217.9 million in wider economic benefits and £45.6 million in savings to local councils.
-
The model has also been taken to scale – in collaboration with other housing associations owning and managing c.220,000 homes, the broader sector’s annual social value is estimated at £5.2 billion, or around £23,777 per social tenancy.
-
The refresh in 2023/24 involved updating the tenant stories (reflecting the impacts of the cost-of-living crisis and pandemic) and expanding the scope of the model.
Our role
As Sonnet Advisory & Impact, we are proud to have collaborated in the development, assurance and continuous refinement of the VoST framework. Our role has included:
-
Co-designing the value model and underlying methodology with Hyde from its inception in 2018.
-
Assisting with data-gathering, stakeholder prioritisation and ensuring the approach remains grounded in tenant lived experience and credible counterfactuals.
-
Supporting Hyde and its partners to interpret the findings and communicate the outcomes to funders, policy-makers and sector stakeholders.
-
Working the model into wider social value and impact management systems so that social housing providers can transparently demonstrate return on investment from both social and financial perspectives.
Why this is timely
In a context where social housing supply is under pressure and the costs of the private rented sector and temporary accommodation continue to rise, the VoST model speaks directly to the need for evidence of value and impact. As Hyde’s report states: “The need to evidence the impact of social housing is therefore as great as it’s ever been.”
For commissioning bodies, investors and housing providers this means:
-
A clear and trusted framework to articulate and quantify the value generated by social tenancies.
-
A tool to support investment-case building, demonstrating returns not only in housing but across health, employment, local authority spend and community value.
-
A platform to refine and compare outcomes across portfolios, inform strategic decision-making, and benchmark performance.
Looking ahead
We anticipate that interest in the VoST model will continue to grow. With partners now across the sector and the scale of the dataset increasing, there is significant potential to refine segmentation, explore new outcomes (such as digital inclusion, in-work poverty, key-worker access) and integrate the findings into policy and investment frameworks. As The Hyde Group notes, key themes emerging include in-work poverty and digital exclusion.
At Sonnet Advisory & Impact, we are excited about the next phase: working with housing providers, investors and commissioners to apply the VoST insights in practice – embedding social value measurement, driving continuous improvement, and unlocking the broader potential of social housing.
