Social housing residents would benefit from the opportunity to move home through a national mobility scheme, according to a report published today by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) and eight leading housing associations.

Research to inform Mobility Matters: Exploring Mobility Aspirations and Options for Social Housing Residents has found that out of four million social housing households nationwide, nearly 680,000 expressed a strong desire to move to a different home, of which 128,000 would like to relocate to a completely different part of the country.

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The report concludes that a national mobility scheme would offer residents additional housing options to meet the needs of changing households. It would also help make the best use of existing social housing stock by freeing up much-needed larger family homes, encourage economic mobility, promote community cohesion, and assist in creating opportunities to improve quality of life.

Speaking at the launch of the report, Trevor Beattie, Director of Corporate Strategy at the HCA, said: "We believe opening up opportunities for national mobility is an important step in helping to meet resident aspirations as well as making the best use of existing social housing and promoting community cohesion.

"We fully support the recommendations of this report, which challenges us all to improve mobility options for residents, where geographic boundaries become no obstacle."

The proposed framework for the national mobility scheme would create additional opportunities for mobility and add to the existing sub-regional and regional mobility schemes.

(CD/KMcA)