Helen will talk about how the chronic shortage of social housing is inevitably hampering efforts to respond to the needs of current tenants: “We all know the country’s need for new social housing is absolutely desperate,” she has said.  

So the #NFAConf23 blog series begins today with the story of how Barnet Homes has achieved a modest but steady increase in its council-owned and managed social housing stock in recent years without the borrowing power of housing associations or support from central government policy — and in spite of the spiralling pressures on the borough’s housing revenue account.

In an article for this year’s NFA Annual Review, Derek Rust, the Barnet ALMO’s Group Director of Growth and Development, explains how it’s been done by leveraging a careful mix of registered provider status and partnership with private developers.

The approach has become known in the Barnet ALMO as ‘the Heritage Lane model’, named after the largest-scale project so far developed in this way which delivered 15 discounted affordable rent homes and six shared ownership homes. The borough retains the freehold of the site once the developer has sold the last market-price home, meaning that the land remains a publicly owned asset. 

Further blogs in the #NFAConf23 series will include a summary of our best practice publication for conference, Critical Friends: What tenant scrutiny brings to better landlord performance; a celebration of the three NFA members who mark their 20th anniversaries this year; and a blog from conference keynote speaker Helen Baker. 

• The NFA 2022-23 Annual Review will be published at #NFAConf23 in Birmingham on 27 April 2023.