Reframe The Narrative To Accelerate Delivery And Build Better Partnerships
12 June 2025
The housing sector is at a turning point. The cards from the recent Spending Review fell in Angela Rayner’s favour with an announcement of nearly £40bn worth of grants and a 10-year rent settlement – providing the sector with the tools and certainty to plan for the future.
However, government funding can only go so far – the 1.5 million homes goal is already “a stretching target” and, just days before the Spending Review, a Savills report stated that the country is likely to deliver only around 840,000 new homes. An impressive upswing, but far short of the target.
Not surprising, some would say, given the breadth of challenges that need to be overcome – subdued demand from first-time buyers and housing associations, falling planning consents, high interest rates, rising costs of fire safety works and the long-term maintenance of existing homes. As much as we can point to a lack of adequate funding for the delivery shortfall, it’s also that whatever’s in the purse is stretched in so many directions that it’s impossible for the conventional faces of housing delivery to make a real impact alone.
But there’s reason to be positive – more than ever, providers are looking at innovative ways to unlock new streams of capital to meet their delivery ambitions and, be in no doubt, there is capital available. Ethical, long-term capital from institutional backers like pension funds is already in the market. Institutionally-backed registered providers (RPs) have a pivotal role to play here, not by displacing traditional housing associations, but by working alongside them in partnership, to kickstart building and retrofit.
Too often, the discussion around ‘for-profit’ providers is polarised, when in reality much of the work happening on the ground is collaborative. There are RPs who want to continue managing homes but are not wedded to ownership. There are others that may want a clean exit from some geographies to allow them to rationalise their stock and deliver efficiencies. Both strategies are legitimate and workable with the right partner by your side. The way forward is to align with organisations whose business models and ambitions fit the opportunity that working together can deliver.
Institutionally-backed RPs can help release capital for traditional RPs to be reinvested to build, retrofit or lift customer service standards – wherever it’s most needed. Traditional RPs have the capability and experience to carry out large scale retrofit works to bring properties up to standard, whether they want to retain ownership or not.
Many RPs or organisations who may want to enter partnerships are often unsure of how to structure them, or which model would suit them best. We need advisors to have a depth of knowledge of affordable housing and the capital markets, to help shape a commercial deal that works for both parties while keeping the interests of residents at the forefront. The reality is that we also need to bring our boards on a journey with us, getting them comfortable with what is considered business-as-usual in such partnerships. Increasing our internal expertise by bringing together a skilled team of advisors will also bolster the confidence of boards as well as make for more robust governance.
Another practical step would be to create an open-access library of resources. Case studies, examples of various partnership models and legal frameworks would go a long way to demystify and propagate best practice. It would prove to be an extremely useful tool for organisations that are starting from scratch, without access to the insights of those who’ve done it successfully time and again. It would speed up the process, reduce inefficiencies, and empower leaders to make good decisions for the business as well as for customers.
It’s time for the sector to reframe the narrative; partnership can be bespoke, and doesn’t mean loss of control. Capital isn’t something to be wary of, it’s something to shape and channel, to achieve positive outcomes for customers and communities. By working in partnership with well aligned institutional capital the sector can deliver more, using its development and operational platforms to greater effect. In the process we can learn from partners, enhance skillsets, increase transparency, and improve data – all of which allows us to improve our service to customers.
Being open to collaboration and listening to voices from across the entire housing sector will drive greater success.
By Catherine Raynsford, managing director, major stock acquisitions at L&G
This article first appeared online at https://housingevent.com/leadership-symposium-thought-leaders