Social Housing Stigma

Lifting the lid on social housing stigma 

In July 2025 we held two bootcamp sessions with colleagues and customers to kick start the conversation on the stigma facing many people living in social housing.  

The sessions focussed on looking at how we communicate and how we can make sure we don’t reinforce stigma in our communications with you. The discussions were a first step in the right direction and we’ll be holding more sessions looking at other areas outlined in the  Stop Social Housing Stigma  campaign journey planner.  

Listen and act 

Listen – You told us that you’d like to see more customer stories highlighting the great work happening in our neighbourhoods  

Act - We encourage colleagues to challenge stigma if they observe it and help us to highlight successful customer stories  

Listen – You told us some of our letters were hard to understand and not customer friendly. 

Act – We’ve been reviewing and amending our communications to avoid stigmatising language and promote fair access for all customers 

One customer who attended said: “I was interested in coming to talk about stigma today – the title caught my attention as it’s not something you hear about often. I’ve not experienced it myself, but I know people that have, especially where I grew up. It happens and it’s getting worse, but it’s a hard problem to solve with harmful media attention.   

“I think Golding could share more of the work it’s doing with neighbourhoods and charities to help combat stigma.”  

 
If you’d like to give your views the Stop Social Housing Stigma campaign group are running a national survey. Complete the survey .