Across the social housing sector, under-occupancy and overcrowding are often treated as separate issues, with one framed as inefficiency and the other as acute need. However, our study at the Cambridge Centre for Housing and Planning Research, conducted in collaboration with Places for People, shows that both conditions are interconnected outcomes of a single systemic imbalance. They arise from a persistent mismatch between household needs and the size, type and distribution of housing stock. The issue is therefore not just about space, but about how effectively the system aligns people and homes across the life course.

Read the full article from HQM here.