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Working towards greater transparency

If associations want greater autonomy they will need to become more transparent organisations, says Stuart Ropke

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Working towards greater transparency

In the run-up to last year’s elections to the National Assembly for Wales, the Homes for Wales coalition – led by Community Housing Cymru – campaigned to elevate housing up the political agenda in Wales, and the response from politicians has been significant.

We’ve already seen a 20,000-home target put in place, a tripartite housing pact, and three pieces of housing legislation are either in progress or set to be brought to the floor of the Assembly over the next year.

The increased profile for housing has understandably brought with it increased scrutiny, with the Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) spending much of the last year considering the effectiveness of the regulation of housing associations in Wales.

With a number of changes to regulation in recent years, the decision to reclassify housing associations by the Office for National Statistics, and an ever-increasing role for associations in tackling the housing crisis, its review was a timely, robust and, at times, lively look at the sector.


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This was a different kind of inquiry for the PAC in Wales. The review was instigated by the committee and focused more on policy than they would traditionally do in their function as the Assembly’s audit committee. And the report, published last week, lays down some big challenges and questions for housing associations, in particular on diversification and transparency.

The committee’s report happily acknowledges and recognises the independence of the housing association sector, and the need for greater autonomy – particularly if the reclassification decision is to be reversed. In return, the committee is clear that it expects associations to be more open and more transparent.

“The Public Accounts Committee is clear that it expects associations to be more open and more transparent.”

I’ve written previously about the need for housing associations to embrace transparency and open up beyond the boundaries of the housing world, and the committee’s recommendations can act as a catalyst to help us on that journey. Our response must be constructive and meaningful, and associations should use this as an opportunity to offer tenants and the communities in which they work access to greater data and information on what they do and how they perform.

 

Community Housing Cymru will play its part, too. We’ve already commenced a review of our code of governance as the committee has recommended, and are heavily engaged in the Regulatory Board for Wales’ thematic review of governance. The transparency principles which we will embed in our enhanced code of governance will enable the sector to respond to the accountability and transparency challenge.

The principles of transparency are also particularly important when it comes to another area the committee considered and made recommendations on: diversification.

“The principles which we will embed in our enhanced code of governance will enable the sector to respond to the accountability and transparency challenge.”

We know that the topic of housing associations and diversification provokes passionate debate and divides opinion, but the evidence is clear that where housing associations have diversified their activities in Wales offering student accommodation, shared ownership and care services, for instance, that individuals and communities have benefited.

We know that diversification and making profit for a purpose helps our members to stretch the public funding they receive further, offering better value for money, and maximises their ability to provide more quality affordable homes. Providing more homes at truly affordable rents will always remain the core business of housing associations in Wales, but we need to listen to what the committee has said and be much better at explaining what we do and most importantly, why we do it.

Housing associations will continue to grow in Wales, and so will our profile as a sector. Politicians and the media will be increasingly interested in what we do and how we do it over the coming years, and so will the public at large.

The sector’s response to the PAC report needs to leave them in no doubt that housing associations are transparent, open organisations who are fit for the future and focused on providing the affordable housing Wales needs to tackle the housing crisis.

Stuart Ropke, chief executive, Community Housing Cymru

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