Housing and Papering Over the Cracks of the Welfare State: Exploring the Role and Impact of Technology as Part of Housing Service Provision in an Era of Multi-level Precarity

To illustrate that as the welfare state contracts, precarity increases and responsibility for service provision is progressively devolved to front-line individuals and service users, this article, published in Social Policy and Society and online by Cambridge University Press, examines the use of assistive and everyday technologies to improve social housing residents’ quality of life.

Based on a longitudinal mixed methods study conducted between 2020 and 2022 as part of the INVITE Project at the University of Stirling, the findings highlight how housing providers can support person-led technology interventions for older residents, where minor improvements positively impact day-to-day living.

However, interventions are often limited by practicalities, capacity, and cost. This article connects technological engagement in housing to the ongoing ‘responsibilisation’ of many areas of housing provision to social landlords and tenants.