Affordable housing has a messaging problem

One of the biggest challenges for effective delivery of affordable housing in the UK isn’t policy, land or even funding. It’s public trust.  
 
Despite the need for affordable housing being well understood at a strategic, industry-led level, there is a defined gap for how this is received locally. At that local level, proposals for new housing generally face opposition. This is especially prevalent for affordable housing inclusions – largely proposed through Section 106 agreements - that are frequently met with resistance.  
 

Affordable housing doesn’t just have a delivery problem, it has a distinct messaging problem too. Mounting planning objections, community backlash and contentious consultations result in schemes that include real social and economic value being slowed or stalled altogether.  

There is a fundamental disconnect between how the industry explains affordable housing and how communities experience it. Realistically, resistance isn’t driven by outright opposition but misunderstanding. The term ‘affordable housing’ is vague at best and misleading at worst, and can carry negative, outdated connotations.  

As a sector, technical definitions tend to be the go-to. This makes sense as the jargon spoken by many who are making affordable housing happen. These definitions are utilised every day. But to the public, those definitions are lost and, in its place, all communities may hear is uncertainty and risk.  

This is where we find a disconnect in the journey of new housing between decision-makers and local communities. It comes from a lack of confidence about what a specific development will actually mean in practice. If a clear and credible narrative isn’t present, this tends to result in people defaulting to worst case scenarios and assumptions.  

As PR specialists, we’ve seen it firsthand how consultation periods and schemes overall have been derailed but ineffective communications and for us, early engagement is a steadfast rule. Too often, communication work may become a focus too late in the process, once plans are finalised and consultation with local communities is already well underway.  

Despite consultation being the foundation for defining local moods towards new development, the communications groundwork has been skipped. Narrative has already begun to form and becomes much harder to influence once at that later point.  

Effective communications and public engagement is the heart of translating success and can’t be an afterthought. It needs to be embedded from the very beginning, shaping how developments are positioned and explained to stakeholders. It needs to shape how schemes are introduced, not as a factor in mitigating community resistance after the fact.  

We’ve mentioned the disconnect amongst the describing language for affordable housing delivery and this is where a key role for PR work comes in. At its best, PR efforts are not about spin, but about translation. It’s taking those complex, policy-driven narratives and concepts and making them relevant, meaningful and most of all, accessible to the people they affect the most.  

Especially if trust is the challenge, effective storytelling is one of the most powerful tools to address this – taking developments from just housing schemes into definitive community assets. From a reputation perspective, this is built long before that first public consultation and it's clear that if you wait until consultation to tell your story, you’ve already lost control of it.  

Impactful storytelling shifts the focus from abstract policy to human experience, it can answer the questions that matter most to communities: 

• Who are these homes for?
• How will they support local people and infrastructure?
• What will this development add to the area? 

Instead of communicating number of units, tenure type and policy compliance for example, providers must consider the community makeup they are working with such as who lives there and what does the community really need to be effectively supported.  

These questions are vital to the foundations of an effective PR strategy for new development and the inclusion of affordable housing. It helps dictate where focuses lie when it comes to developing that all important communications plan that spans consultation to groundbreaking and eventual completion.  

If anything, defining this information is the guidelines that we must work to when evolving the story of developments themselves and how key messages are portrayed through communications, not just of the provider but the specific development. We’re able to monitor this on a development-by-development basis and ensure that PR activity is consistently aligning with those defined goals set out in those early stages, as well as showcasing all-important business impact for the clients we work with. 

It’s safe to say that storytelling comes hand in hand with public consultation work and effective engagement with communities. Any communications plan must have that multi-faceted approach.  

Success in reducing any objections or hurdles comes from establishing buy in from communities through a transparent and ongoing approach to engagement. Communities want to feel part of the story, not just subjected to it – and this comes from consistency, clarity and authenticity.  

Without this focused approach, even well-designed schemes may face resistance.  

From an overall perspective, effective engagement, PR and storytelling can: 

• Reduce planning objections 
• Build early community buy-in 
• Strengthen relationships with local stakeholders 
• Increase broader policy support 

If the sector is serious about accelerating delivery, it must be equally serious about how it communicates. Because until we close the trust gap, we will continue to face a delivery gap. 

To find out more about how we can support with telling the story of your next development or project, please get in touch.