How can housing providers help get the nation learning?

When people think of organisations who can boost lifelong learning, perhaps housing providers don’t immediately spring to mind. But the first year of the Get the Nation Learning campaign has made clear: they should do.  Following on from triumphs for MSV Housing and Poplar HARCA at the 2025 Get the Nation Learning Awards, Learning and Work Institute hosted a workshop to exploring the current and potential role for the housing sector in lifelong learning. Here are five key lessons from the conversation.

1. Housing providers reach learners other services often miss

Housing providers already have relationships with residents and are rooted in neighbourhoods, so they can meet people where they are, both literally and emotionally. Support can happen in community spaces, libraries, job centres and housing developments, rather than only in formal learning settings. That local presence helps build trust and confidence, especially for people who may feel that learning is not for them.

2. Lifelong learning works best when it fits and reflects real lives

Adult learning needn’t mean classroom-based courses. Housing providers are creating routes into learning through coaching, volunteering, work placements and job clubs, but also through activities such as music production, cooking, sewing and sport. This matters because confidence, wellbeing and social connection are often the foundations that make further learning and employment possible.

3. Removing barriers is just as important as what’s on offer

Digital exclusion, childcare, costs, low awareness and lack of confidence all are common barriers to participation in learning. The more practical the response from housing providers, the better. Wi-Fi support, help with travel and lunch, and other incentives can make it easier for people to take part. If lifelong learning is going to reach everyone, support needs to focus on what’s foundational to participation, not just the learning offer itself.

4. Partnership and long-term investment are essential

Housing providers cannot and do not work in isolation. Collaboration with local government, education, employers and community organisations is essential if learning pathways are to be joined up and sustainable. Long term and flexible funding can also allow housing providers to give consistent support, as well as be better collaborators with other key partners. It can take time to build trust amongst residents. If support is here today, gone tomorrow, that erodes trust, and undermines long term impact. 

5. Housing providers are already helping to Get the Nation Learning  

Housing providers are already showing what lifelong learning can look like in practice: local, relational and grounded in everyday life. That is why they are such important partners in Get the Nation Learning campaign, and we want to showcase the work of those already leading the way. For more inspiration, take a look at the slide deck below.