The National Housing Federation (NHF) is a social housing body within the UK that works with Housing Associations to anticipate and understand the emerging and critical issues affecting the housing sector.
Member Housing Associations provide low-cost housing for just above six million people within the UK, with the social purpose of providing affordable housing that is of a quality that people can enjoy their homes. One of the NHF’s remits is anticipating, identifying, and understanding the critical issues affecting the housing sector.
The NHF plays a leading role in shaping the UK’s national housing policy at UK Government level to enable Housing Associations to deliver their social purpose by representing the views of the UK housing sector, understand and engaging in the creation of housing policy and building an understanding of housing associations to increase their public support.
Acting as a conduit for communication and collaboration with stakeholders across the social housing sector, the NHF defines and promotes the shared values and vision of the housing sector to support member Housing Associations through collaboration to develop and share insight and insight analysis of the sector.
The NHF publishes a Code of Conduct that sets out
the governance standards for housing associations that are members of the NHF
for Housing Association staff, board members and specific residents who are
involved with the running of a Housing Association that sets out guidance
across four key areas:
- Acting in the Housing Associations’ and residents’ best interest.
- Operating with integrity.
- Conducting themselves professionally.
- Protection of people and the environment.
Most Housing Associations within the UK adopt the
NHF Code of Conduct, the main elements of which are to achieve and improve
prominent levels of governance that are based on the following:
- Deliver a Housing Association’s aims, objectives, and values effectively and sustainably.
- Provide strategic leadership aligned with the Housing Associations’ aims, objectives, and values.
- Reflecting a Housing Association’s integrity, ethics, and values in everything it does.
- Ensure that decision-making, risk, and control processes are informed, rigorous and timely.
- Working as an effective Board team to make critical and informed decisions.
- Having a transparent, practical, and agreed-on approach to support equality, diversity, and inclusion.
- Having organisational openness and accountability.
A Housing Association Code of Governance aims to
maximise stakeholder and staff engagement and increase the public confidence
that the Housing Association Board are serving the needs of stakeholders across
all organisational areas, focussing their approach across four core principles:
- Accountability: Housing Associations must account for and explain their actions and decisions as they are obligated to mitigate the risks involved by building trust and maintaining confidence through formal corporate reporting processes, robust risk management and internal control systems.
- Transparency: A Housing Association must operate with openness and integrity by disclosing accurate and timely information regarding the Housing Association’s financial, social and political position to housing sector bodies, staff and customers, utilising routine internal/external audits and truthful, unbiased annual reporting to practice good corporate transparency.
- Fairness: Housing Association internal and external stakeholders must be considered and treated equally, regardless of their relationship with a Housing Association. A Housing Association Board must strive to build a diverse and engaged organisation through succession planning and an incentivised compensation policy that considers the interests of all parties to practice an understanding of fairness.
- Responsibility: Executive Directors must act ethically to maintain the best interests of all parties affected by a Housing Association. Good corporate responsibility involves taking a top-down approach to ensure ethical conduct and engaging long-term stakeholders on issues and concerns affecting the Housing Association’s strategic value creation.
One of the aims of governance is to avoid potential
conflicts of interest, examples of which may include:
- Relational involving family members or friends.
- Financial gifts or inducements from suppliers
- Confidential dissemination of information
Conflicts of interest may occur when a party gains
an advantage over another due to their involvement or knowledge of a given set
of circumstances or having access to resources, opportunities, or privileged
information. The impacts of conflicts of interest can be reduced or mitigated
using the following:
- The imposition of Housing Association Ethical Standards.
- Ensuring stakeholders are educated about potential conflicts of
interest and are encouraged to divulge them.
- Reduce the risks of conflicts of interest through Housing
Association rules, regulations, policies, and processes.
- Avoid conflicts of interest by stakeholders’ direct involvement in activities.
Organisational transparency is an honest, two-way openness between stakeholders. In contrast, accountability exists between stakeholders where a stakeholder has an expectation of the other, who is obliged to undertake an action on behalf of an organisation to the countenance of other parties.
Direction and control of an organisation are exercised by an Executive Team that directs the management team, resources, and assets of the organisation to meet the expectations of other internal or external stakeholders, from which the Executive Team gain no financial advantage.
A Housing Association Board has the responsibility
to develop and improve organisational transparency and accountability to steer
the organisation’s direction with increased control using:
- Operational and budgetary formal reporting
- Setting organisational Key Performance Indicators with associated feedback
- Monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly annual Board Meetings
- Annual Board Reporting
- Regulatory financial reporting and the filing of annual accounts at Companies House
- Disclosure of any related organisational transactions
- Disclosing Board Member remuneration and benefits
The more open and accountable a Housing Association is to the legitimate requirements of its stakeholders, the less chance there is of the organisation failing to meet its aims, goals, and objectives. This is critical within areas of public interest, such as social housing assets built with public funding.
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