Measuring Housing Effectiveness: A Case Study in Customer Evaluation

Effectiveness within housing as a publicly-provided service has been neglected to a large extent with a concentration on needs assessment and probity of spending. Little attention is paid to the impact of housing services on the ultimate recipients—tenants. This paper, through a case study in the Northern Ireland Housing Executive, attempts to assess the usefulness of customer evaluation as one element of performance measurement The value of involving tenants is not only important in assessing the minutiae but also relevant at a strategic level. Participation is particularly germane in Northern Ireland where the 'normal’ structure and process of political control over housing do not exist.