HOUSING ASSOCIATIONS BATTLE TO KEEP THEIR IDENTITY

The fight

for  a

good

name

If you are baffled by the labels used in today`s arguments about gender (male, female or whatever) you may also be baffled about the labels used in another of today`s hot topics.

The topic is housing and the current housing crisis.The label is “housing association.”

Not the most exciting  thing  to be arguing about. But surprisingly, there is a lot at stake -lots of cash, much of it government cash.

Housing associations were set up in the 1960`s to provide low-cost housing for workers and are now the leading providers of social housing in Britain.

They are non profit-making organisations. But critics say that some housing associations have adopted aggressive commercial practices.These associations  are no more than property developers aiming for  big profits say the critics.

Not so, say the housing associations - what we do is  to benefit the community, not to distribute profits.

So with all this argument going on, it is no surprise that the real property developers found it quite simple –and profitable too- to jump on the bandwagon and use the housing association  label when building social  and affordable housing .

Some of these property developers are powerful business giants, for example  Legal and General and British Land.

And their  use of the housing  association label did not please the genuine housing associations.They feared that they would lose out on deals with local authorities. And they also feared that powerful for-profit businesses in their space could damage their reputation.

Things got worse in recent months with a rapid expansion  of these for-profit providers, and Blackstone, the world’s largest property investor, making a  move when it bought 90% of the London-based Sage Housing Associaton

So what was to be done? After protests from the associations, Mr Greg Clark the business secretary last week intervened. He has  ordered that companies must no longer call  themselves housing associations.

David Orr, chief executive of the housing associations` trade body the National Housing Federation welcomed Mr Clark`s intervention. He said: “This is  important and timely . At the heart of our mission and purpose as a sector is that we do what we do for the benefit of the community, not to distribute profits to shareholders.”

That is not the end of the story.

Today  there was news of two more for-profit companies using the housing association label.

They are  London-based Major Housing Association and Funding Affordable Homes (FAH) Housing Association,  also London – based ,a subsidiary of an investment fund by the same name, which was set up by the merchant bank Salamanca Group.

Major is refusing to change its name, having been registered for nine years.

So the fight goes on for the housing association label.

And Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federation which publishes this blog will play its part by continuing to challenge those allegedly genuine housing associations which have fast become nothing more than property developers.


Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federation publishes this blog. Information about the Federation is available on 01228 522277 or 01228 532803