ABSTRACT
The aim of this paper is to explore how law has restructured the relation between English housing associations and the state in the context of austerity and financialisation. Focusing on the regulatory and legal frameworks underpinning the consents regime governing the disposal of housing association stock, I argue that the construction of housing associations as private for the purposes of borrowing has depoliticized the entry of private financial interests into social housing. This has further enabled some housing associations to be transformed into rent gap exploiting entities. Austerity has revealed the tensions within this funding model through undermining the sector’s stability and implicit state backing, creating the potential for state or provider exit and further potential for urban dispossession.