Biography

Eileen holds an MSc in Social Policy and Planning from the LSE (winner of Charles Mostyn Lloyd prize for outstanding dissertation) and a BA (with distinction) from the University of Wisconsin Madison. Eileen is interested in developing a better understanding of “informal welfare” in Social Policy by exploring the significance of financial support relationships between people on low incomes. For her PhD, Eileen has conducted in-depth interviews with 50 working age social housing tenants, using an innovative mapping exercise that charts the financial dependencies between family members and friends.

Eileen Alexander's current research interests are:

• Private rented sector and tenure dynamics
• Welfare reform
• Housing and neighbourhood policy
• Qualitative and geographic research methods including tenant peer research

Eileen's latest projects include:

• Investigation into how large housing associations can continue to invest in communities given current funding changes and resource constraints.