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David Orr: for-profits should not be NHF members
For-profit social housing providers should not be allowed to join the National Housing Federation (NHF), David Orr has said.
Mr Orr was chief executive of the NHF for 13 years before his retirement last year – and has since become chair of for-profit outfit ReSI Housing.
He made the comments while appearing on a panel at the NHF’s Housing Finance Conference in Liverpool yesterday.
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In response to a question about whether for-profits should be eligible for NHF membership, he said: “Should for-profit providers be part of the National Housing Federation? No.
“I think there is a very important issue about fellow travellers and how we kind of build a relationship, but the National Housing Federation is for housing associations, and housing associations by definition are not for profit.
“I will never describe ReSI Housing as a housing association because it is not. It is a for-profit social housing provider registered with the Regulator of Social Housing but that does not make it a housing association.”
In January last year, while Mr Orr was still chief executive, the NHF threatened Blackstone-backed for-profit Sage with legal action if it continued to call itself a housing association.
The provider quickly dropped the word ‘association’ from its name, and the government subsequently instructed Companies House to prevent any for-profit organisations from using the name ‘housing association’.
There are 44 for-profit providers registered with the Regulator of Social Housing, owning a combined 2,500 homes.
A flurry of investors and house builders have announced plans to register as social housing providers in the past year.
Mr Orr is also a board member at Clarion Housing Group, the UK’s largest housing association, and Northern Ireland landlord Clanmil.
