Publications
Communities that Work publish research and policy and contribute to the work of others in housing and employment policy.
Key publications are shared below.
Publications are shared via our Supporters Newsletter and directly with all members of Communities that Work. Keep up to date with the latest news from Communities that Work - subscribe to our Supporters Newsletter here.
Delivering for our Communities:
Green Jobs and Skills in Social Housing
This major new report sets out how social housing can play a central role in delivering the UK’s net zero ambitions while unlocking long-term, skilled employment in communities across the country.
The report brings together national survey data, in-depth stakeholder engagement, and policy analysis to explore how investment in green homes can create a “virtuous circle” of warmer, energy-efficient homes, stronger local economies, and new green career pathways for social housing residents.
The evidence found that social housing is uniquely placed to drive large-scale retrofit and new green housebuilding. With 4.5 million social homes in England and concentrated housing portfolios, housing associations can offer the long-term pipeline certainty needed to grow the UK’s green workforce at scale.
Whilst government commitments, including the £39 billion Social and Affordable Homes Programme (SAHP) and the Warm Homes Plan, are of course welcome, we acknowledge the need to go further to advance the opportunities these investments can provide. As a result, the report provides the government with a series of recommendations, including:
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Stable, multi-year funding to enable workforce and apprenticeship planning.
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Reform of quality and regulatory systems to reduce delivery bottlenecks.
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A single national workforce strategy to address retrofit skills shortages.
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Fund dedicated long-term employment support programmes (such as JobsPlus) to help tenants furthest from the labour market access green jobs.
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Stronger coordination between Government departments, the Warm Homes Agency, and Mayoral Strategic Authorities.
The Alliance looks forward to collaborating closely with both the government and leading industry organisations in this area, ensuring we unlock the full potential of housing associations and scale up workforce development in the green jobs sector.
Evaluation of the JobsPlus Pilot - Final Report
One in four working-age adults who are economically inactive live in social housing, and many of these residents are not engaged with any employment support, highlighting the need for targeted action to improve access to decent work and progression opportunities.
JobsPlus is a voluntary place-based, community-led employment programme designed to tackle these challenges. It aims to help people into work through on-site employment services, community support, and financial incentives.
The JobsPlus programme has been adapted from the United States model, which has demonstrated positive and sustained impacts on employment and earnings for residents. For many, progress towards employment is non-linear and necessitates improvements in wellbeing, confidence and skills as necessary stepping stones to sustained employment.
The programme is funded by the Department for Work and Pensions, through HM Treasury's Labour Market Evaluation and Pilots Fund, and by Youth Futures Foundation.
This evaluation of JobsPlus builds on the interim findings published in September 2025 to provide evidence on whether the model can be effectively implemented across the UK to improve employment outcomes.
JobsPlus Pilot Interim Evaluation Report (September 2025)
These interim reports cover the evaluation of the JobsPlus pilot programme, drawing on data from the first nine months of the project (with sites recruiting programme participants in July 2024). A fuller assessment of outcomes was carried out in the final JobsPlus Pilot Evaluation Report, published in June 2026.
Report: Building Opportunity: How social housing can support skills, talent and workforce development.
The report calls for investment in specialist employment support for those out of work and who want to work. It highlights the critical importance of social landlords in the design, development and delivery of these services alongside other partners.
This research, carried out by the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) and the Learning and Work Institute sets out fresh analysis of the UK employment market. The report shows that supporting social housing residents who wish to enter the employment market is vital to meeting both the UK’s immediate economic challenges and improving the country’s long-term prosperity – by filling vacant roles, and expanding the jobs market to support future growth. And there is a clear indication that many unemployed social housing residents would like to access employment opportunities if the barriers to employment were removed: 1.7 million economically inactive people in the UK say they want to work, whilst 72% of 50-59 year olds in Great Britain who left the workforce during the pandemic said they would consider returning to work.
The UKSPF Prospectus
The Social Housing and UKSPF Commission launched the 'UKSPF in Housing Prospectus', on 3rd October 2021 at the Conservative party conference. The Commission is led by Communities that Work. The COVID-19 pandemic has put even more pressure on the future success of the UKSPF. Every penny of the fund matters and making sure that the investment can deliver real successes and support change across the country is critical. The Prospectus encourages the Government to leverage the power and value of social housing providers to maximise the impact that UKSPF can have across our communities.
APPG Inquiry Report: Housing & Employment
The APPG on Housing and Social Mobility led a national Inquiry aimed at tackling the employment and earnings gap in social housing in 2020. The Inquiry ran through 2020, reporting in October and took evidence incorporating Covid-19 support.
Communities that Work provided the Secretariat support to the APPG for this report, written by the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence (CaCHE).
Transform and Achieve: Evaluation of bespoke housing and employment programmes
Communities that Work formed part of the Advisory Group to Transform and Achieve: a jointly
funded programme between MTVH and JP Morgan that ran over two years in East London
before and through the COVID-19 lockdown. Transform and Achieve proved highly effective in
reaching across communities, working with economically inactive people and achieving high
success rates as participants moved into work. The Transform and Achieve team continues
delivering bespoke employment programmes across the social housing sector.
Covid-19, Housing and Employment: Research
The impact of Covid-19 on housing sector led employment research. January 2021 - Our report into housing and employment services, one year into Covid. The first annual membership insight report from Communities that Work explores the economic impact that Covid-19 has had on social housing providers’ ability to maintain delivery of employment support services, and the challenges faced by their residents. Report highlights include 94% of Housing Associations reported an increase in residents facing economic hardship due to Covid-19, and Housing Associations provided an estimated £76 million to community investment in 2019-20.
