Publications

March 2023: This report explores issues around the Right to Buy policy including sales volumes, discount levels and the recycling of RTB receipts. It suggests how the policy can be made more sustainable for both council tenants who wish to buy and the local authorities who must maintain and manage remaining rented stock to a decent standard and house the statutorily homeless.

Research into the right to buy within the Housing Revenue Account Read More »

February 2023: This suite of reports from the NFA and CWAG (Councils with ALMOs Group), first published in November 2021, has been updated to reflect newly enacted legislation prompted by the Social Housing White Paper. Over the next few years, housing managers and their councils must make sure they comply with these and other upcoming changes in the regulatory environment. 

Excellence in management and partnership: How councils can put the ALMO advantage to work in the new regulatory environment Read More »

The Better Social Housing panel, convened by the housing association sector and the Chartered Institute of Housing in summer 2022, has reported on its findings from a six-month consultation with residents and social housing providers.
The twin focus of this review is not only social housing quality but also the culture and responsiveness of landlords to tenant’s concerns and complaints.

Better Social Housing Review Read More »

The case for decarbonising homes has already been made. The issue is not whether to decarbonise, but how to do it. NFA members are council-owned housing management organisations that look after around 300,000 homes – nearly a fifth of all local authority housing across England. They both maintain stock and make sure it is fit for purpose for the future and this includes preparing homes for a zero-carbon world through retrofit programmes.
ALMOs and the wider social housing sector are moving to more comprehensive decarbonisation programmes driven by government commitments not only to meet net zero targets, but also the urgent need to tackle fuel poverty and make sure social housing is fit to live in.

Decarbonising Social Housing: Lessons from the ALMO sector Read More »

October 2022: This report explains that while capping council tenants’ rent increases in the 2023-24 financial year is essential for those hit hard by the cost of living crisis, it will also take significant capital out of council budgets that cannot be replaced. A cap will have an impact on the baseline for future increases that, experience suggests, will be ignored in future settlements, leaving the Housing Revenue Account permanently depleted.

Rent and Income Analysis: LGA, ARCH and NFA Read More »

Successful tenant engagement transfers absolute power from landlords and shares it with tenants and communities. Both sides reap the rewards. Landlords who share decision-making with residents deliver the services residents really want and need; residents get to shape their communities and feel that all-important sense of ownership that feeds into better outcomes for everyone. This report shows how council-owned housing management companies deliver tenant engagement and the many benefits the collaboration brings.

Tenant Voice: How ALMOs listen to tenants and deliver good customer services Read More »

We couldn’t have got through the last two years without each other. Even when we could not be together, we could pull together.
NFA members and residents did just that: food deliveries, telephone befriending, chats through windows, checking up on each other, leaving shopping on doorsteps.
This year’s NFA photography competition offers some intimate glimpses of how our members’ staff
and residents weathered the pandemic storm. They show that, despite everything, there were many
moments when sunshine broke through the clouds.

2022 Pulling together: Our lockdown stories in pictures Read More »

2021 – 2022
The first post-pandemic Annual Review from the NFA since the start of the global COVID-19 pandemic celebrates the 20th anniversary of the ALMO model of local authority housing management; members’ homelessness and zero-carbon work, efforts to capture and act on the tenant voice, ALMOs in the vanguard of response to the new regulatory regime – and much more.

NFA Annual Review 2021-2022 Read More »