From regulatory capture to regulated competition: An interest group analysis of the regulation of housing associations in England

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Abstract
This paper suggests a framework in which the key influences on the regulation of social housing providers can be understood. It draws on a wider literature to locate and describe the types of regulation found in the English social housing sector. It develops an approach based on interest group theories which see regulation as “an exercise among groups and between groups and the state” (Francis, 1993, p. 8). The development of the English regulatory regime is examined over time from the perspective of a number of different interest groups. The regime is shown to have been strongly influenced by the interests of the providers themselves, indicating a degree of ‘regulatory capture’. However, this relationship has been increasingly challenged by external pressures and interests and the promotion of competition by government. Special issues arising from the proposed, but as yet unimplemented, introduction of competition from profit distributing companies are discussed.

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