The responsible tenant: housing governance and the politics of behaviour

Abstract

Writers influenced by Foucault's work on governmentality have characterised emerging forms of governance in advanced liberal democracies as being based upon ‘technologies of the self’ in which power works through the self‐regulation of subjects within constructed norms of responsible and ethical conduct. This ‘politics of behaviour’ has been particularly prominent in UK housing policy debates in relation to anti‐social behaviour, benefit reform and tenant participation. This paper argues that recent reforms are premised upon the identification of the responsible (and responsive) tenant as a central organising mechanism in new processes of housing governance. Although tenant responsibility is not a new concept, the paper argues that the nature and scope of this responsibility is currently being broadened and deepened, and discusses how this reconfiguration of responsibility reflects a wider realignment of governing identities within housing policy and practice.

Keywords:

• responsibility
• governance
• behaviour