Skip to content
Research and insights5 October 2020

Report uncovers Clarion resident experiences during the pandemic

  • Early findings from Clarion Housing Group’s annual survey reveals the impact of Covid-19 on residents.
  • 86% of residents said they were coping well and findings suggest vulnerable groups such as the elderly were cared for.
  • Working residents who had been placed on furlough were more likely to report that their mental and physical health had suffered.

We are pleased to be able to share our report about how Clarion residents have managed during the Covid-19 pandemic and resulting lockdown.

The report is based on findings from the Clarion Index, our annual resident survey, which we use to shape our services, identify support needs and target initiatives. Survey questions cover a range of topics including communities, wellbeing, household finances and internet use.

This year, we added questions that related specifically to the pandemic, including impacts on mental and physical health and how easy residents found it to access essential food and medicine.

Different experiences

The survey took place almost a month into lockdown, as people adjusted to furlough and had limited contact with other households. Overall, most Clarion residents showed resilience - 86% of residents said that they were coping well and the findings also suggest that some groups, including the elderly had been well cared for.

Despite changes experienced by many residents, including to their work situation, some findings were optimistic, for example, furloughed workers were more likely to report that their mental and physical health had improved since the pandemic began.

Beneath the sense of ‘we’re all in it together’, it’s clear that that Covid-19 has hit people’s lives in different ways. The results indicate that people who were likely to have been struggling before the pandemic, including those working in insecure employment and disabled residents, have suffered most.

Creating support

Efforts are already underway to help alleviate some of the issues identified, including work to assist young people with welfare advice and employment support.

Clarion has set-up a Kickstart Housing Network, to identify and galvanise the interest of housing providers in the Government’s Kickstart Scheme, which will create hundreds of thousands of work placements for 16- to 24-year-olds.

We will also commission a follow-up piece of research to the Covid-19 report, focusing on resident experiences as the furlough scheme ends and the economic fallout of the pandemic becomes clearer.