Performance assessment of housing associations

Performance assessment of housing associations

Van Overmeeren, A.J.
Gruis, V.H.
Haffner, M.E.A.

OTB Research Institute

OTB onderzoek

2009-11-21

This article analyzes the function, design, and effects of a method to assess the performance of housing associations in the Netherlands. First, the roles of performance assessment are discussed from three perspectives: the association as an agent for the central government; the association as a facilitator of local stakeholders’ needs; and the association as an autonomous social entrepreneur. From each of these stereotypical perspectives, we derive the approaches to and functions of performance assessment. The resulting theoretical archetypes of performance assessment are then employed to analyze the method that was in place in 2005 in the Netherlands. The performance assessment system is also analyzed using the director, detector, and effector elements drawn from cybernetic theory. Furthermore, the Dutch performance assessment method is briefly compared with the English inspection system. This provides a better understanding of the types of performance assessment. In light of the identified perspectives on housing associations, we conclude that the Dutch method performs poorly on the director and effector element and that the English method performs relatively well on all elements. Nevertheless, in both countries adjustments in the performance assessment system can increase learning and improve the performance of housing associations.

performance assessment
inspection
governance
housing associations
The Netherlands
England

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:9fbba587-8541-4b2a-b42d-51683d004608

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10901-009-9172-y

Springer

1566-4910

Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, 25 (1), 2010

Institutional Repository

journal article

(c) 2009 The Author(s)