These are the partnerships helping us to do more and deliver more

For boards and executive teams, the challenge is balancing pace and compliance with long‑term financial resilience in an increasingly demanding operating environment.

Social and affordable rents do not cover the full cost of delivery, while inflation and sustained economic volatility continue to intensify financial pressure.

At the same time, the loss of wider support services and pressure on the third sector has reshaped the nature of need, with housing associations increasingly supporting more complex vulnerabilities within their homes.

Rising expectations and tragic events have sharpened scrutiny on safety with a stronger focus on understanding our customers and our homes through robust data and the right systems, reinforcing the need to invest in technology.

Delivering the homes and services that the regulator expects, the way customers expect and that we ourselves expect comes at a cost. Standing still is not an option.

We cannot deliver more without either generating additional income or achieving better value from the resources we already have.

That means thinking differently about how we operate, supported by strong governance, robust board oversight and effective partnership working. Collaboration offers significant potential.

Joint ventures

A few years ago, we entered joint ventures on two schemes with Homes by Carlton, allowing us to be involved in market sales without carrying all the risk ourselves.

While these schemes include a small element of affordable housing, for us they are primarily medium‑term investments. They generate stronger returns than financial money markets, which we can reinvest in delivering new social and affordable homes and improving existing ones.

Housing partnerships

Collaboration through the North East Housing Partnership (NEHP) has also become a practical way of unlocking further value.

Established in 2023, NEHP brings together housing associations and councils from across the region to build more affordable homes, align investment and skills, and support devolved priorities for the North East.

One of our most ambitious initiatives to date is an active investment collaboration between eight NEHP members and JTC Furniture Group, bringing together planned kitchen replacement programmes at scale.

To support delivery, JTC has opened a new regional assembly and distribution centre in Northumberland. While initiatives of this size are complex, the value of the approach is already becoming clear.

Facilitated by procurement specialists Prosper, the collaboration is expected to deliver savings of more than £10m over the next decade.

The benefits go beyond cost, supporting improved sustainability, reduced waste, and the creation of social value and local employment opportunities, including for social housing residents.

Getting something like this over the line is not easy. Partners bring different specifications, objectives and ways of working, and shifting established approaches can be challenging.

But with senior‑level buy‑in, the right people around the table and a genuine commitment from organisations to get it to work, this kind of collaboration is possible. 

It must work for larger organisations like ours while also enabling those without the same purchasing power to benefit.

Unlocking schemes with partners

Working with NEHP partners, including Karbon Homes, has enabled schemes to progress, supporting the delivery of 115 new homes across five sites, more than half for social rent to help address acute local housing need.

We are also continuing conversations with NEHP partners about how we can better align plans in future, with a shared aim of supporting long‑term development and maximising investment in the region. This approach can help us do more with the resources we have.

I would like to reach a point where we can invest in unlocking real placemaking opportunities, working with partners to identify priority areas and align the funding we collectively have available.

The reality is that this is not always possible but collaborating with partners gives us the best chance of staying focused on what matters most: safe, healthy and affordable homes, and stronger outcomes for customers and communities.

I feel optimistic. I don’t feel we have ever had such a groundswell of support, even from organisations and partners not directly involved. We are sharing information and getting this to work – this is not just talk, it is happening.

Faye Gordon, executive director of finance and investment, Believe Housing

Hear from Faye Gordon at the Social Housing Finance Conference, taking place on 14 May in London. For more information and booking, click here.