Annual Report 2013-14

Twitter: @sfha_hqFacebook: SFHA.housingscotlandWebsite: www.sfha.co.uk

The SFHA is the national voice of housing associations and cooperatives in Scotland. The SFHA exists to support the work of housing associations and co-operatives through positive influence on Government policy and promotion of the work of our members.

We are a membership organisation supported by affiliate (housing associations and co-operatives), commercial and supporting members. Our members operate in all 32 Scottish local authority areas.

Our job is to: • ensure that the SFHA captures the views

of its members

• articulate these to exercise positive influence on governments and others interested in affordable housing across the needs of the population

• support members to deliver affordable housing throughout Scotland and to preserve the priceless asset of our reputation for good quality housing.

What are we here to do

We were pleased to maintain a stable membership with 119 affiliates covering the length and breadth of Scotland. Our members comprise 74% of all associations and co-operatives and they own and manage 86% of the social housing stock in Scotland. We strive to ensure that we speak for all housing associations and co-operatives in their rich diversity.

As a membership organisation it is vital that we have good dialogue with our members and with our partners. Dialogue with members provides us with the intelligence essential for us to work on their behalf. Communicating with our partners should ensure that we collaborate to maximise our impact instead of duplicating or competing. This year we have been able to improve effective relationships with our partners and look forward to further improvements in the years ahead.

Housing Minister Margaret Burgess MSP with SFHA Chief Executive Mary Taylor and SFHA Chair Teresa McNally at

SFHA Annual Conference

SFHA Policy Manager, David Stewart at the Property Maintenance & Asset Management Conference

Our work was organised under six themes, five of which continued from the previous year. We set out to represent and support members on these issues:

Welfare reform: we gathered evidence and produced reports to underpin our lobbying of the DWP and Scotland Office. This year these included research on the impacts of bedroom tax and of sanctions on tenants seeking work. We produced a practical guide with Scottish Government funding and supported members to work with the changes to social security. We supported the demonstration project and worked closely with the Scottish Government and with UK departments on mitigation funding, which secured cross party support for the 2014 -15 budget.

Investment: in partnership with key partners, we demonstrated to government the impact of reductions in funding on new supply and successfully built a case to increase government subsidy for social rented housing, based on affordable rent assumptions. We helped to prompt ministerial dialogue with lenders. We continued to lobby strenuously on procurement issues with the Scottish Government, Scottish Parliament and with other federations in Europe.

What we set out to do

Commercial activities subsidise affiliation fees by

32%

2,359

10,000monthly website visitors

4th

2,200delegates

Managed 28 events attracting over

year in succession for operating surplus

• Bedroom Tax Early Impacts Research • Welfare Rights and Wrongs • The Real Cost of the Bedroom Tax

Published 3 reports:

Provided significant support to all of the staff and specialist forums

Maintained

twitter followers

2013-14 Highlights

Achieved

Discussion forums and seminars

3yrStrategic plan

Developed a

209 Facebook Likes

Energy efficiency: we influenced the EESSH to ensure it works for our members and to support members to be prepared for implementation. We commissioned practical guidance on funding sources and on use of emerging technologies. We mapped the renewables output of the sector and secured additional funding from utilities to support further project development.

Governance and regulation: we worked closely with members and the SHR on revising the Codes of Conduct and a new policy on Entitlements, Payments and Benefits. We encouraged and enabled governance improvement through dialogue and at events and we supported members facing intervention. We lobbied the Scottish Parliament about our concerns and responded to enquiries.

Affordability of rents and fuel poverty: we continued work on revising the SFHA affordability measure and supported a RIHAF project to investigate and promote a Minimum Income Standard for Remote Scotland. We contributed to the Scottish Government’s Fuel Poverty strategy review.

Health and social care: in this new theme, we collaborated with members and others - through the Housing Coordinating Group - to influence ministers to recognise in law the potential contribution of ‘housing’ in securing improvements in health and social care. We helped to raise the profile of housing associations and secured acknowledgement of our role and practice in shaping future local planning and delivery for better outcomes.

And we lobbied the Scottish Parliament on various issues. Not least of these was around the Housing Bill including the historic abolition of the right to buy.

We facilitated the Scottish contribution to the SORP working party, collaborating with colleagues in other federations. And we raised awareness of Housing Options Hubs.

Joint Improvement Team (JIT) Conference

SFHA members signing up for learning workshops

SFHA Mary Taylor Chief Executive with Johann Lamont MSP

We engaged with members on all of these themes and activities. Without member engagement, these achievements would be near impossible.

Most of the work was carried out by the policy team, who maintained regular forum and network meetings across the diverse activities of the sector. Their work on media matters and political engagement was supported by colleagues in Press and Public Affairs and in the Commercial team organising conferences and events and providing a platform for communicating our positions on various issues.

We secured coverage of our concerns across print, online and broadcast media with an estimated advertising value of over £1.3m.

We attended various party conferences with fringe events and exhibitions to draw attention to our concerns and organised a fringe meeting at the LibDems UK conference in Glasgow, which preceded a vote overwhelmingly in favour of abolishing the bedroom tax. Our topical events attracted and engaged 2,200 delegates on pressing issues.

All of the activities of the federation were supported by staff in finance and administration who kept the back office running and provided a friendly and helpful service to our members and stakeholders.

We achieved a modest surplus for the fourth year running. Our affiliation income held up with a very modest increase in fees, offset by approximately one third (32%), thanks to the commercial team’s net contribution of £357k. This had significantly increased (by 23%) over the previous year.

Our resources allowed us to direct even greater spending to our policy work representing an increase since 2010 of 59%. After exceptional items (including severance and investment in new systems) we can report only a modest decrease to reserves.

Our Board, chaired by Teresa McNally, met 6 times in the course of the year. In September the Board (inc three newly elected Directors) met with managers to agree a three year Strategy to take effect from April 2014. The Board grappled with the challenge of sustaining the invaluable representation and support work of the federation with securing our financial strength, in spite of facing a significantly increased contribution to the SHAPS past service deficit from 2014-15.

The Board continued to modernise its own governance, implementing the findings of a project to improve recruitment, induction, training and evaluation of Board Directors. And having identified the need for improvement in our Articles, we are recommending for members’ consideration new Articles to ensure good governance by design.

Alison Prophet, Hillcrest HA with SFHA David Ogilvie andJackie Baillie MSP at Labour Party Conferenc

2013 Annual Conference Dragons Den: Colin Hawkins, AHP - Susan Torrance, SFHA

Craig Sanderson, Link - Ian Sillars, RBS, Pete Gladwell, Legal and General Front: Helen Forsyth & Alan Hobbett,

Berwickshire HA and Gordon Campbell, Carduus

How we did it

Scottish Federation of Housing Associations3rd Floor, Sutherland House 149 St Vincent Street, Glasgow G2 5NW

Tel: 0141 332 8113 Email: sfha@sfha.co.uk

Cover photos: Courtesy of SFHA Affiliate Members