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Is it just me or are housing associations feeling a little insecure at the moment?

Strange as it may seem for a sector that has just exceeded an annual turnover of £10 billion for the first time and appears to be riding out the recession with relatively few casualties, but I get the distinct impression that HAs are feeling increasingly concerned that their status as the ‘best’ model for delivering social housing in this country is being undermined.

For the last couple of decades housing associations have had it all their way. Successive governments have quite deliberately encouraged a shift away from the council-led provision of housing by passing legislation designed to favour the HA model, especially in terms of funding availability and new housebuilding powers.

But what has emerged over the last few months – borne I think out of necessity rather than any great shift in ideology – is a desire to mix and match social housing provision, whether it’s through housing associations, ALMOs or councils.

I’m not entirely sure whether this is simply down to the ‘old Labour’ approach of Housing Minister Margaret Beckett, who has deliberately sought to bring councils back into the fold, or more to do with the way the economic downturn has forced the Government to be more inventive in its methods of housing delivery but one thing’s for sure, housing associations feel threatened.

National Housing Federation chief David Orr seems particularly uncomfortable with the way the wind is blowing at the moment. First he was forced to jump to the defence of housing associations over the fact that their rent increases will not be falling in line with councils. He then became embroiled in a high profile spat with Peter Marsh of the Tenant Services Authority over ‘inappropriate interference’ in housing association pay levels. And most recently he used a TSA Question Time event to warn the regulator against ‘over-regulating’ HAs.

One part of his speech was particularly revealing. Mr Orr told the audience: “The TSA should be wary of encroaching too far on associations’ rights and responsibilities – for example the neighbourhood work in which they choose to invest, and the staff salary structures they choose to implement. These issues are the responsibility of boards, not the regulator…They should not be the subject of public statements which are often understood to be sector-wide regulatory requirements.â€�

Putting the rights or wrongs of Mr Orr’s argument to one side, I do get the impression that the real issue here is that housing associations don’t want to be lumped in with councils and ALMOs in the way they are treated by the regulator. It seems to me that he would rather HAs be treated as totally separate from the rest of the sector and allowed to do as they wish in the style of private companies rather than public-funded bodies.

In this month’s 24housing, Sir Bob Kerslake highlights the gradual move away from housing association dominance. Not only does he welcome the £100 million the Government has pledged to enable councils to enter the development arena but he also backs the TSA as a champion of tenants across the social housing spectrum and warns that HAs ‘would be wise to be respectful of the TSA’.

While the National Housing Federation gets hot under the collar over seemingly very little, other social housing providers are beginning to make their move. The National Federation of ALMOs (NFA) recently delivered a major report to Westminster, which was designed to not only safeguard but actively promote the ALMO movement as the country’s ‘most successful social housing model’.

In addition, there are a number of proactive local authorities out there who are desperate to start building council housing again. Birmingham has been particularly vociferous on this claiming it would take all the money the Government has made available to build new council homes.

What should be made clear, however, is that housing associations have nothing to worry about. As the TSA’s Global Accounts of Housing Associations prove, the sector is hugely successful providing as it does millions of decent homes but hundreds of additional services to tenants and the communities in which they live. Far from feeling threatened by the shift in the social housing model, HAs should embrace the fact that the Government, the HCA and the TSA is focusing so much on a once neglected area of policy with housing associations placed very much at the centre of their plans.

As Sir Bob says: “Housing associations are critical to maintaining a supply of affordable housing in the downturn and making a significant contribution to total housebuilding…Our aim is to support them in doing that and to heavily involve them in our strategic plans.�