Coronavirus update – supporting our members

This update outlines how we’ll support housing associations, their teams and residents during the coronavirus crisis.  

Our members and their teams are working at the frontline to continue to provide essential services for millions of people. The NHF is supporting this work in three ways:

1. Connecting the sector and sharing experiences

We want to ensure our members share their experiences and challenges, learn from peers and develop common responses to issues. To support this, we’ve developed a coronavirus member LinkedIn group and we ran a webinar on preparing for the impact of coronavirus, which you can watch online.

We’ve also created a section of our website which lists all current official advice and guidance.

We’ll now expand these resources to include more webinars, blogs and other content to share experiences and case studies from both inside and outside the sector. We’re also looking to run some of our usual member groups and engagement events remotely, including our quarterly chief executive forums, with a focus on coronavirus discussion.

We’ll share dates, content and other resources via our website in the coming days and weeks. If there are any topics you’d like to see covered, or organisations you’d like to see included, please get in touch.

2. Speaking out for you and your residents

Like all sectors at the frontline of the coronavirus effort, we’re considering how we can respond as a sector to the many challenges the crisis will bring.

We’ll work with our members to find answers to any questions that arise, and communicate with one voice about our sector’s collective approach, the work our members are doing, and the support our members and their residents will need, both with the government and in the media.

Our External Affairs, Policy and Communications teams will work with our members over the coming weeks to understand the challenges, provide advice and support, and lead sector responses where needed.

3. Engaging with national stakeholders

This crisis is the top priority for the whole of the government and for national agencies of all kinds. We’ll be linking up with all key national stakeholders, including ministers, government departments, the Local Government Association, the Regulator of Social Housing, Homes England and the Chartered Institute of Housing, to communicate the key issues our members are encountering, and to align these wherever possible. We have already established active lines of communication with key officials, and we’re ensuring our contact is frequent and open.

We’ll be writing to ministers and other stakeholders to set out the sector’s position, raise our members’ concerns and offer our support and collaboration. We’ll also be engaging with political stakeholders on the specific challenges the sector faces in response to this crisis, and we’ll seek support from the government and its agencies to help address these.

We are also conscious that some parts of the government will be moving forward with the government’s broader policy and legislative agenda. We’ll engage with stakeholders and the government, and work to ensure our members can continue with their urgent work to support their residents.

If your organisation is an NHF member, you can sign up to receive coronavirus updates straight to your inbox – please get in touch with your name and organisation.