Energy poverty alleviation by social housing providers: Investigating targeted approaches in France, England, and the Netherlands

Since energy prices across Europe started to rise in 2021, there has been growing concern of social housing tenants at risk of energy poverty. So far, studies have largely focused on the role of governments and on what tenants themselves could do. However, research has rarely considered specific targeting approaches by social housing providers (SHPs). This study explores the role of these stakeholders and investigates what policies French, English, and Dutch social housing providers could adopt to enhance the effectiveness of their energy poverty alleviation efforts. Focus groups with practitioners demonstrated their perspectives on the most effective interventions, their benefits and challenges, and their variation across policy contexts. We found that social housing professionals perceive a significant responsibility in addressing energy poverty among their tenants, but that there remains uncertainty regarding their role within the welfare state. While views and practices among SHPs vary, most deem prioritisation of retrofits and targeting behavioural interventions more effective and feasible approaches than setting rents progressively and targeting allocations. Particularly the presence of institutional barriers and a lack of data hinder SHPs from implementing a more targeted approach in addressing energy poverty.