Housing associations pick first eight Social Housing Scholarships recipients from 316 applicants

Eight social housing residents have been selected from 316 applicants as the first scholars of a programme coordinated by Clarion Housing Group's charitable foundation and six other landlords, each receiving £18,000 over three years.

Clarion said on 12 October that more than 20 candidates had gone to interview before the final eight were chosen through a competitive assessment and partner review process. The scholars will take up places at universities including Oxford, Cambridge, Loughborough, the London School of Economics, Bristol and Kingston.

The Social Housing Scholarships Programme is coordinated by Clarion Futures, Clarion's charitable foundation, and managed by Blackbullion. Hyde, L&Q, Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing, Peabody, Places for People and Riverside are delivery partners, with match funding from the Fusion21 Foundation.

Clare Miller, Chief Executive of Clarion Housing Group, said: "Our first scholars have shown remarkable determination and have exciting ambitions spanning policy, engineering, property, finance and more."

The courses

According to Clarion, the scholars' degrees include Real Estate Management, Civil Engineering and Land Economy, which it said connect directly to how homes and places are planned, built and managed. Others are studying Politics, Philosophy, Politics and Economics, Management, and Economics and Finance.

Peabody said at launch that eligible degrees were those linked to housing, homes and communities, including construction, sustainability, urban planning, social policy and business.

Each scholar is matched with a participating housing association based on their location, degree and career interests. Clarion said that, once they have settled in at university, the landlords will start providing mentoring and wider development support, alongside networking, volunteering and work experience. A paid internship is planned for the end of the second year.

The money

The £18,000 is to help with living costs and study materials. Peabody said it is paid in three annual instalments of £6,000. Clarion said payments are spread across the academic year, with larger sums at the start of each term when costs are usually highest.

Jo Hannan, Head of the Fusion21 Foundation, said: "Financial pressures can make it harder for students to make the most of university and all the opportunities that come with it."

How scholars were chosen

Clarion said at the April 2026 launch that priority would go to applicants from lower-income households or who were the first in their family to go to university, with less weight on academic performance than is typical of scholarship schemes. Selection focused instead on attitude, determination and enthusiasm, and Clarion's resident guidance states that academic results are not the main criterion.

Applicants had to live in social housing in England. Blackbullion's programme page listed the 2026 window as 24 April to midnight on 5 July, with candidates needing a confirmed place to start an undergraduate degree in September 2026 and to be paying domestic UK tuition fees. Clarion said selection followed A-level results in August.

The programme builds on Clarion's William Sutton Prize scholarships launched in 2025, which Clarion said supported six young people, four of them social housing residents.

The numbers

At launch, Clarion, Peabody and the Fusion21 Foundation all said the scheme would fund 14 scholarships over two years, with Peabody describing it as seven in 2026 and seven in 2027. Clarion's October announcement puts the first cohort at eight, and says a further seven scholarships will be awarded in 2027, taking the total supported to 15.

The 2027 intake is for undergraduate degrees starting in the 2027/28 academic year. Clarion's resident site says applications for that round are not yet open.