1. Context
1.1. The Housing Studies Association (the Association) operates within a global environment where issues of housing are deeply connected to social, political, and economic change. Housing loss, displacement, and reconstruction often occur in contexts of conflict, crisis, and contestation. These realities can prompt calls for the Association to take public positions on complex and sensitive issues.
1.2. Within our membership and the broader housing studies community, there are diverse perspectives on how a learned society should engage with such matters. Some members may look to the Association to speak out on urgent political or humanitarian concerns, while others emphasise the importance of impartiality, neutrality, and safeguarding scholarly independence.
1.3. These debates are not unique to housing studies; they are shared across the academy and professional associations more widely. As a learned society, the Association must navigate these pressures carefully. Our credibility and our ability to provide an inclusive forum for researchers, students, practitioners, and policymakers depend on our ability to balance compassion with impartiality and scholarly freedom with institutional responsibility.
1.4. In this context, the Association adopts a values-based impartiality approach. This is not a passive neutrality, but an active commitment to ensuring that housing research and education can flourish within a respectful, inclusive, and evidence-led environment. By grounding our advocacy in our constitutional objects, and by focusing on housing research, education, and practice, we safeguard the independence of the Association while providing space for our members to engage critically with the wider issues that matter to them. It also means recognising the diverse views of members and ensuring the Association itself does not become a vehicle for partisan or political campaigning.
2. Purpose
2.1. The Housing Studies Association is dedicated to advancing housing-related research, education, and practice. As the leading learned society for housing studies, we foster a dynamic and inclusive network that connects researchers, students, policymakers, and practitioners across disciplines. We champion rigorous scholarship, support the exchange of ideas, and drive innovation in housing studies to inform policy and practice. Through collaboration and knowledge-sharing, we strive to enhance understanding, improve education, and contribute to solutions that shape better housing futures for all.
2.2. This Advocacy Policy outlines how the Association engages with advocacy and related activities in accordance with our constitutional objects, our independence as a learned society, and best practice guidance from the Charity Commission.
3. Principles
3.1. The Association follows a number of principles around values-based impartiality and our objects as set out in our Articles of Association to inform and guide our future advocacy and responses.
3.2. While the Association is a company limited by guarantee and not a charity at this time, we align our advocacy with Charity Commission guidance and requirements to safeguard independence, support best practice, and prepare the Association for potential future charitable status.
3.3. Advocacy undertaken by the Association must directly support its core objects of:
3.3.1. Advancing housing research, education, and practice across disciplines for the public benefit, including contributions to policy, practice, and broader social understanding;
3.3.2. Providing a forum for dialogue and debate between researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and others engaged with housing; and,
3.3.3. Promoting and enhancing the reputation of housing studies as a recognised field of academic work.
3.4. Academic freedom, freedom of speech, and open scholarly debate are fundamental values of the Association. Members should be free to support, criticise, discuss, and debate issues within the limits of the law. The role of the Association is not to adopt political positions, but to safeguard this freedom by ensuring that no single institutional stance inhibits members’ ability to speak their minds. Values-based impartiality is therefore not silence, but principled restraint. It allows the Association to remain fair and unbiased while actively encouraging members to engage with complex issues through rigorous, respectful, and open scholarly debate. The Association’s place is to provide the space and support for such debate, so that knowledge can develop and society may learn.
3.5. Accordingly, the Association does not take institutional positions on broader political or geopolitical issues beyond its remit. All advocacy must be grounded in research and scholarly evidence and should seek to contribute constructively to housing-related public and policy debates.
3.6. Individual members are free to act in a personal capacity on advocacy or political matters. However, such activity must not be presented as the position of the Association, or as endorsed by the Association.
4. Scope of Advocacy
4.1. The Housing Studies Association may engage in advocacy only where it clearly falls within the scope of the objects of the Articles of Association. This includes:
4.1.1. Promoting housing research, education, and practice, including support for research funding, academic freedom, and infrastructure.
4.1.2. Representing the interests of housing researchers, educators, and students to funding bodies, regulatory agencies, government, and other organisations.
4.1.3. Enhancing the visibility and reputation of housing studies as a scholarly field within higher education and public life.
4.2. The Association will not engage in advocacy that falls outside these areas or that risks compromising the Association’s independence and standing as a learned society.
5. Governance
5.1. The Association may, in its name, act as an advocate for housing studies within higher education, research, and policy, including the value of housing-related research, the funding of scholarship, and the contribution of housing studies to policy and practice.
5.2. Responsibility for day-to-day advocacy activity is delegated to the Chair. This enables the Chair to represent the Association publicly, engage with stakeholders, and take forward advocacy that is consistent with this policy, the Association’s objects, and is limited to matters relating to housing-related research, education and practice.
5.3. Where advocacy involves significant or sensitive public statements, including matters that could affect the Association’s impartiality, reputation, or constitutional scope, the Chair must seek the prior approval of the Board. In such cases, the Board will collectively determine the Association’s position.
5.4. The Chair will provide regular updates on advocacy activity to the Board through reports at Board meetings, ensuring Directors maintain oversight and alignment with the Association’s strategic priorities and governance responsibilities.
5.5. Member networks are essential spaces for debate and innovation. However, they may not undertake advocacy in the name of the Association without the prior agreement of the Chair, or in the case of significant or sensitive statements, the approval of the Board.
6. Review
6.1. This policy will be reviewed regularly by the Board to ensure that it remains aligned with the Association’s objects, governance responsibilities, and the needs of the housing studies community.
