Reflecting on this year's Finance Conference

By Tom Ockendon, SFHA External Affairs Co-ordinator

This year we had Aviemore as the stunning backdrop for SFHA’s Finance Conference 2023. Typically one of our best attended conferences, this year was no different. We had over 30 exhibitors and close to 30 speakers over the two-day event which took in four plenary and 20 workshop sessions alongside countless other conversations and connections made. 

Across all of the different topics, the overriding message was that the past few years have been incredibly tough, we are still facing huge challenges as a sector, but we remain resilient in the face of them and innovative in dealing with them. As much as these challenges pose difficult economic or financial questions, they are also ethical questions, and these run right through the sector and drive our social purpose. 

The opening plenary was delivered by Kelly Grainger of Perfectly Autistic. He spoke about his own journey in being diagnosed as neurodivergent in his forties and the difficulties he faced in the workplace.  His inspiring talk focused on the importance of embracing neurodiversity in the workplace in order to support everybody to thrive at work. The key messages to take away? When one in five people are neurodivergent, your organisation's workforce is neurodivergent, whether you know it or not. And most importantly, difference is normal, and should be celebrated as such. 

Later in the day Helen Shaw, Director of Regulation at the Scottish Housing Regulator, delivered a talk on the economic landscape for RSLs, the regulator’s priorities, and what we might expect this coming year. Her main message was that despite economic volatility and the challenges RSLs are facing, the sector’s finances remain in a strong position. On top of this the sector retains the confidence of lenders who are still willing to lend to RSLs. However, she also highlighted that in her view, maintaining a focus on liquidity and treasury management will be an important priority for the year ahead especially as the cost of borrowing increases. Other important areas of focus will be the review of the regulatory framework, the EESSH2 proposals and the Housing Bill. 

Over the two days we also had workshop sessions on a whole host of issues, ranging from community investment funding to best practice in procurement, and from IT resource costs to managing debt and arrears. The most popular sessions across the conference though were on long-term financial planning, financing net zero, and the insurance market. This doesn’t just reflect the interests of the finance crowd, but also just how important it is for RSLs to stay on top of the pressing financial challenges and the benefits of coming together to share learning and perspectives on these issues.  

We had two plenary sessions on the second day of the conference, with the first taking in the broad (read gloomy) economic outlook with Melanie Russell of Lloyds Bank and Bill Truin of 4point2 consultancy. Our last session of the conference was with Nick Pollard of Link Housing Group who was joined by Nathan Mallows of Coastline Housing in Cornwall and Sophie Taylor of Newport City Homes to offer some perspectives from different parts of the UK. The overall message was although there are plenty of differences between the Scottish, English and Welsh sectors, the challenges faced by RSLs are much the same and so there are significant opportunities to work together and learn from each other. 

Overall it was another fantastic SFHA conference made possible by the work of speakers, exhibitors, attendees, the SFHA team and importantly all our members who without, such events wouldn’t be possible. Members can download speakers' presentations from the SFHA events page and lastly – we hope to see you at an SFHA conference soon!