What are you discussing at the conference and why is this an important issue?
I am delighted to be at the SFHA annual conference talking about our sector's ability to understand, measure, demonstrate and really progress the social impact we make. The covid pandemic truly showed the breadth of our support and impact for tenants, communities, and our society as a whole.
By measuring the impact that we make we can not only show what we do, but also plan for what we are going to do, how we are going to increase our impact and the value we bring. We know that in Scotland there is a huge interest in impact measurement, with Audit Scotland report following previous Affordable Housing Programmes highlighting the need to measure the increased impact social housing has as part of this, in comparison to other tenures.
But this is not just about social impact, but economic and environmental impact too. With the net zero carbon agenda a key part of Housing to 2040, we know that we need more tools to help us make the right decisions. Understanding, measuring, and increasing environmental outcomes as key part of the social impact and purpose will become fundamental as the sector meets head on the many challenges it faces.
Continuing the great work from our Social Insight project with SFHA, I’m looking forward to talking to members to understand how we can keep up this momentum and continue to demonstrate and plan for the social value we create.
What more should be done to tackle poverty and inequality, particularly given the current cost of living crisis?
Social housing organisations have always had a strong and clear social purpose. We know that simply providing housing is not enough if we are to enable people and communities to thrive. We are organisations how care passionately and who are part of communities for the long term. Tackling poverty and inequality isn’t only the right thing to do, it also makes good business sense by protecting our longer-term income and the assets we own.
We know that social housing tenants are disproportionately affected by poverty and are at the sharp end of the cost of living crisis. From the SFHA Fuel Support Fund and our own Energy Hardship Fund, HACT has distributed over £1 million worth of support in energy vouchers to over 16,000 households in Scotland. But this is not enough and we continue to research and develop innovative approaches to fuel poverty, digital inclusion and flexible rent options.
Through their role as community anchors and trusted partners, social housing organisations are well positioned to highlight the impacts, trends, support and advocate for the needs of social housing tenants – and we will continue to make a case for them to do so.
How can we achieve the Scottish Government’s vision of a fairer Scotland as we continue to recover from the pandemic?
HACT’s social value measures are based on a similar wellbeing approach as The Scottish Government endorse through their National performance framework, and we see the development of understanding success through more than just financial outcomes. We will continue to work closely with social housing organisations in Scotland to develop this understanding and support greater impact to deliver the ambitions of a fairer Scotland.
Our previous research in Scotland looking at the Impact of Social Housing: Economic, Social, Health and Wellbeing showed that increased investment in social housing would have significant economic and health impacts, reduce child poverty, homelessness and directly support anti-poverty strategies.
With projects focusing on the value of new tenancies and the affordable housing programme across the country, and another looking specifically about the impact aids and adaptations have on people and their ability to stay in their houses for longer, we will drive a better understanding and application of the drivers and solutions to meet the challenges set out in the Fairer Scotland Action Plan.
SFHA Annual Conference
14 and 15 June 2022, Radisson Blu Hotel, Glasgow
Andrew will be speaking during 'Demonstrating your impact, demonstrating social value' workshop on Wednesday 15 June.
Click here to book
