We look to the future with a business strategy that holds big ambitions for the housing sector

In her blog, NHF Chief Executive Kate Henderson explains how people from across the social housing sector have helped shape our new business strategy.

There has been a huge amount of change within social housing over the last few years, bringing with it new challenges and opportunities for the sector.

That’s why it’s so important to reflect on the recent past before looking to the future. We do this every year by producing an impact report. Our most recent publication covered the period 2022 to 2025 to align with our last business strategy. Both documents tell the story of our journey over the last three years, charting major milestones and progress made.

It’s heartening to remind ourselves of everything we have achieved together as a sector to benefit residents and communities across the country. Especially given the backdrop of significant financial challenges and uncertainty that housing associations have faced over recent years. And, despite ambitious housing targets and some welcome progress from the new government, we're still awaiting the Spending Review for critical decisions on funding to be made.

Before work started on our new business strategy, we wanted to take stock and find out what people involved in social housing thought about the sector today and the challenging environment we operate in. This involved a large consultation exercise with over 700 people, including members, residents, partners and key stakeholders, and took several months to complete. It ensured that a wide range of people engaged in shaping our work, priorities and key objectives for the rest of the decade. You can read about the findings of that consultation in our strategic review report.

The information we gathered helped us develop three overarching sector ambitions, which the NHF will support its members to achieve by working towards five of its own strategic objectives, each with practical, measurable outcomes.

This is all clearly set out in our new Business Strategy 2025-30, which we launch today.

In our most recent survey of member chief executives and chairs, 89% of chief executives thought our strategic priorities are right. We hope that by involving people right at the start of this process, we have identified the most important priorities for the sector going forward.

We all know that a lot can happen in housing over a five-year period so we may have to make small changes to the document as we go along but the overriding principles and priorities will remain.

A huge amount of work has gone into both the strategic review and our new business strategy, ensuring we have a clearly defined path to follow for the years ahead. Thank you to everyone who took the time to get involved.

I’m really looking forward to the journey ahead, including any bumps in the road, because I know from experience that as a united sector we can achieve great things together for our residents and the communities we serve.