The Government has made its strategic target to deliver more homes clear, setting out its ambition to build 300,000 new homes a year by the mid-2020s, and making a further £2bn capital grant available, including funding for new social rent for the first time in several years.

It recognises that smaller housing associations have a vital role to play in unlocking the delivery of new homes right across the country.

Whilst being committed to growth is welcome, many smaller housing association boards and executive teams need support with shaping their growth/development strategies, understanding what their appetite to risk may be, and being clear what the route to growth might look like for their organisation.

Building new homes poses potential risks to the financial viability of smaller housing associations, so it’s vital that boards have the appropriate skills to manage these risks.

At this year’s Smaller Housing Associations Conference, I’ll be explaining how you can put an effective strategy in place to ensure that:

• growth does not compromise your charitable status
• diversification into new markets, such as shared ownership sales, is carefully backed up by market intelligence
• your organisation has sufficient financial capacity and is continually stress testing this against external risks
• you are carefully monitoring the development process from inception to completion through regular project updates and linking this in with your organisation’s strategic risk map.