ABSTRACT
Niner identified a third group of associations sharing a very different philosophy growing after the mid-1960s as a result of the shelter campaign and the awakening realisation of the continuing problems of poverty, homelessness and poor housing conditions in British cities. Shelter's
Despite the results of extensive research relating to race and housing in the public sector there has not been significant comparable research on housing association allocation policies (Niner 1985; Dalton and Daghlian, 1989). As a consequence little is known about the operation of association allocation processes in general, and virtually nothing about their racial or social implications. Niner has suggested that four different reasons should be considered for examining housing association allocation policies and procedures:
1. Although this sector is small in absolute terms - about half a million households in all (2 per cent of England and Wales households were in housing association tenancies by reference to the 1981 census) - it has been growing rapidly since 1974 and is still growing although at a slower rate.
