About This Course
Explore the key issues shaping housing policy in Britain, including quantity, quality and affordability. This Level 6, 20-credit module examines housing tenures, finance, social housing management and the UK housing crisis, equipping learners with a critical understanding of contemporary housing policy debates.
This micro-credential consists of a validated Level 6, 20-credit undergraduate module delivered within 成人VR视频鈥檚 degree programmes. External learners will study alongside undergraduate students and complete the same teaching and assessment requirements. On successful completion, learners will receive 20 academic credits at Level 6.
Who is this Short Course suitable for?
This micro-credential is suitable for:
- Housing professionals, including housing officers and managers working in housing associations and local authorities
- Officers working in NGOs and organisations focused on housing and homelessness
- Professionals working in policy, social housing management or related fields
- Individuals seeking Level 6 academic credit in housing policy
Why study this course?
By completing this micro-credential, you will:
- Develop a critical understanding of housing tenure patterns in England and Wales and how they compare internationally
- Analyse key issues across housing tenures, including affordability, quality and supply
- Examine what constitutes 鈥榮atisfactory鈥 housing and evaluate policies designed to achieve it
- Understand housing finance systems and their influence on tenure structures
- Gain insight into the evolution and organisation of social housing management
- Critically evaluate debates around difficult-to-let properties and housing inequalities
- Engage with current discussions on the UK housing crisis and homelessness
These outcomes align with the validated undergraduate module specification and are formally assessed through coursework and examination.
How long does this course take to complete?
This 20-credit Level 6 module runs over 12 weeks in Semester 1.
Teaching consists of:
- 11 two-hour weekly lectures
- 5 seminars
Although the module forms part of a full-time undergraduate programme, micro-credential learners join the existing teaching schedule and attend the same weekly lectures and seminars over the 12-week teaching period.
As a 20-credit Level 6 module, this represents approximately 200 hours of total learning time. This includes scheduled teaching alongside guided independent study, such as reading, preparation and assessment work.
Learners should ensure they can commit sufficient time to independent study in addition to scheduled teaching.
Assessment
Assessment for this micro-credential consists of:
- One 2,500-word essay
- One 2-hour unseen examination
This is a formally assessed Level 6 module carrying 20 academic credits. Both assessment components must be successfully completed in order to achieve the credit.
Tutor
Dr Hefin Gwilym
Dr Hefin Gwilym is a lecturer in Social Policy at 成人VR视频. He has written extensively on social policy, including poverty, basic income, welfare reform, and social security. He is an experienced teacher with undergraduate and postgraduate modules on poverty and housing. His current research projects include evaluating 鈥楬elping End Homelessness Partnership Rural Isle of Anglesey鈥 with Dr Sarah Nason.
Course Content
What will you study on this course?
This module explores key current issues in housing policy, focusing on the three core areas of quantity, quality and affordability.
You will examine:
- Factors affecting housing supply and demand
- The characteristics of different housing tenures and tenure change over time
- Contemporary issues within owner-occupation, private renting and social renting
- Housing standards and policies for maintaining housing quality
- Housing finance systems and their impact on tenure patterns
- The provision and management of social rented housing
- Debates surrounding homelessness and the UK housing crisis
Alongside its focus on Britain, the module also draws on international perspectives, including innovative housing design in Denmark and case studies from Singapore and Vienna, to provide comparative insight into alternative housing systems and policy approaches.
List of units
Module content may include:
- Key themes and debates in housing policy
- The growth of owner occupation and the rise of 鈥淕eneration Rent鈥
- Private sector housing and regulatory challenges
- Housing renewal and the future of housing provision
- Rural housing issues
- Housing inequalities, including race and gender
- Housing finance and affordability
- Social housing governance and allocations
- Difficult-to-let housing and housing management challenges
- Homelessness responsibilities and policy responses
- Youth homelessness
- Special needs housing
- International case studies, including Singapore and Vienna
- Innovative housing design in Denmark
Course Cost
Entry Requirements
This course is suitable for professionals working in housing or homelessness-related roles.
Applicants should be able to demonstrate readiness to study at Level 6. This may be evidenced through relevant professional experience and/or recent study or professional development.
If you are unsure whether this course is right for you, please contact the course lead to discuss your circumstances before applying.
Application
How to Apply
Please make sure you read and follow the step-by-step application guide as this will specify which sections of the application form are compulsory for the type of course you want to apply for and save you time.
Please prepare the following information (in a Word document):
- Current employment details;
- Years of experience, and employment history (where relevant)
- Name of staff member and organisation that have approved your funding for this module.
This will speed up the process of completing the application form.
To apply for this course, you need to create an account in our
You will need access to the email address you specify while creating your account to confirm it.
After creating an account, you will see a homepage with several tabs:
- Personal
- Programme
- Info
- Contact
- Education
- Employment
- Language
- Finance
You need to complete all sections before submitting your application.
When a section is complete, a 鈥榯ick鈥 symbol will appear below it.
- Click on 鈥楴on-graduating applications / Stand alone Modules鈥, then select 鈥楴on-graduating Undergraduate鈥.
- In the next section, select Non-Graduating Taught Modules in Social Policy (NGU/SOCP) Click Save and Continue.
- On the next page, the default for the first question is Full Time. You need to change this to 鈥楶art time鈥:
- You now need to input the module. Please type Housing Policy SXP-3210. This section must be completed for your application to be processed.
- You also need to state the start date. This course runs once per year (September). Please select this options, then click 鈥楽ave and Continue鈥.
- IMPORTANT: You do not need to write a personal statement to apply for this course. Instead, please upload the document including employment, experience and education information that you have created prior to starting the application that contains the name of your current employer, the number of years of experience you have, and your highest qualification to date. Click Save and continue.
You only need to enter the details of your highest qualification to date, e.g. if you have a postgraduate qualification, please only only include this.
You will be asked for evidence of the qualification. Please either upload a copy of your qualification if it's easily accessible, or upload the Word document again (that you prepared earlier).
Please scroll to the bottom of the page and click on 鈥業 have no employment history鈥 (as you have already provided this in your Word document).
If you are self-funding, please provide all details as appropriate.