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Mixed Messages: Housing Associations and Corporate Governance

University of Bristol, UK

Housing associations have traditionally been bound together by notions of providing for those in housing need, non-profit making and a voluntary ethos. Since the mid- 1980s these understandings have altered when associations began to develop a private sector ethos leading to: increased priority given to the needs of private funders; the professionalization of boards of management, largely at the behest of the state regulator; and a reimaging of tenants as ‘customers’. These changes have raised fundamental questions about the appropriateness of associations’ modes of internal governance through voluntary governing bodies. This article explores those shifts in culture and the ways in which they have created difficult and contradictory subject positions for members of boards, particularly tenant board members. The article raises questions about the application of corporate governance models to the housing association sector, and the appropriateness of applying private sector principles of corporate governance to organizations in the voluntary/quasi-public sector. Using Foucault’s insights on the subject and power the article will consider how tenant board members are constructed by others and themselves, and how these constructions could affect their potential for intervening in the power relations of the board.

Key Words: corporate governance • expertise • Foucault • housing associations • tenants

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Social & Legal Studies, Vol. 16, No. 1, 71-94 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0964663907073448


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This Article Abstract Free Full Text (Free PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by McDermont, M. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?