How diverse is England’s housing association workforce in 2026?

For the third time in five years, we have worked with housing associations across our membership to collect diversity data of the housing association workforce. This research has enabled us to establish whether our sector’s boards, executive teams and overall workforce are representative of residents and communities. The findings are published in our new report, ‘How diverse is England’s housing association workforce in 2026?’

In 2026, we heard from 185 organisations, representing 79% of NHF members’ homes in England, making this the most comprehensive dataset to date. This increase in responses demonstrates a clear commitment from the sector to understanding the diversity of its workforce and leadership, and how representative they are to the wider community.

Read the report here

"Good EDI data helps organisations make better decisions, create more opportunities and build a workforce that reflects the communities they serve. The result is a stronger organisation, with a wider range of experiences, perspectives and ideas.” - Rick Smith, Fairhive Housing

We would like to thank every housing association that contributed data to this report. Your participation has enabled us to track how diversity and representation across the sector have changed since 2021 and 2023, providing a clearer picture of both progress and persistent challenges. The resulting data shows us exactly where we need to act.

The NHF is committed to playing our part, to support the progress we have seen so far as well as striving to achieve further change. Our recommendations within the report set out the next steps towards building a housing sector that is genuinely diverse and inclusive from the top down, and ultimately, representative of the communities we serve.

Key findings

Data gaps:

We have identified a reduction in data gaps across most characteristics since 2023, with large drops in data gaps about caring responsibilities, sexual orientation and religion.
However, we do not know the socioeconomic background of people that work within social housing – our research shows that housing associations are missing at least 90% of this data.

Representation:

Disability representation has increased, particularly at leadership level, but the sector is still not representative across any workforce groups.
Representation of women has increased across all workforce groups, although leadership teams are still not representative.
Ethnic diversity on boards has increased and is mostly representative, however there has been no progress on executive teams.
Executive teams are marginally less ethnically diverse than in 2023, with Black communities particularly underrepresented.

Disclosing personal characteristics:

Sexual orientation and religion are still the characteristics staff are least likely to disclose about themselves. In fact, 6.7% of the workforce chose ‘prefer not to say’ when asked about their sexual orientation, and the same percentage for religion.

Recommendations

Our report recommends that housing associations:

1. Use data to shape action

This recommendation includes reviewing organisational data, creating action plans and reviewing recruitment processes. It also covers sharing EDI data and plans with staff and creating inclusive workplaces.

2. Draw on NHF resources and expert organisations

This recommendation includes signing up to the NHF’s new inclusive leadership challenge, part of the Inclusive Leadership Toolkit, and making use of other NHF resources, EDI networks, and newsletters. It also suggests signing up to become a Disability Confident employer and signing the Social Housing Anti-Racism Pledge (SHARP).

3. Continue to collect data, and hear from those with lived experience

This recommendation includes engaging with staff on organisational diversity and inclusion, and with residents on equity within service delivery. It also covers the importance of continuing to collect and review EDI data, underpinned by clear communication with staff.

The full recommendations for housing associations, and next steps for us at the NHF, can be found in the report.

Read the full report

Read the national data