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For-profit housing association blocked from NHF membership

A for-profit housing association has been told it cannot be a member of the National Housing Federation (NHF), Inside Housing can reveal.

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A for-profit housing association has been told it cannot be a member of the National Housing Federation #ukhousing

Inside Housing understands that one for-profit registered provider of social housing made an informal enquiry about becoming an NHF member but was rebuffed by the organisation. Inside Housing does not know the identity of the organisation that approached the trade body.

The NHF is the membership body for housing associations. Its former chief executive, David Orr, argued while in post that for-profit organisations could not be housing associations.

Mr Orr, who has since become chair of for-profit provider ReSI Housing, said last month that such organisations should not be members of the NHF.


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Simon Nunn, executive director of member services at the NHF, said: “The federation’s criteria for membership specifically states that our members must be not-for-profit organisations. This is an essential part of what it means to be a housing association – they invest in their local communities, support tenants and make great places to live for the benefit of the community rather than distribute profits to shareholders.

“To date, we haven’t had a formal membership application from a for-profit provider. We have been informally approached in the past but nothing more has come from these conversations.”

The number of for-profit providers in the English social housing sector has exploded recently.

In 2017/18, according to the Regulator of Social Housing’s Statistical Data Return, the number of homes owned by for-profits increased by 149%, faster than it had in all previous years combined, up from 873 to 2,171 homes.

Since then, a host of developers and funds have launched their own for-profit registered providers, including Value Group, Inland Homes, William Pears Group and Man Group.

This week, real estate investment trust ReSI bought £60m worth of homes from London housing association Metropolitan Thames Valley, and plans to hold the homes with its for-profit registered provider arm.

The growth of for-profits has prompted a debate in the social housing sector about the best way of dealing with the new arrivals. Some worry that they will funnel rental income away from traditional housing associations and pay it to shareholders rather than recycle it into more social housing.

Last month, Inside Housing revealed that the Scottish Housing Regulator has had to bar “a number” of for-profits from registering in Scotland.

Registration criteria in Scotland specifies that social landlords must be organisations that “do not trade for profit”.

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