National Housing Federation Members' Survey
According to a MORI Social Research Institute survey of members conducted for the National Housing Federation, regulatory reform, increasing housing investment and reinforcing sector independence should form the Federation's long-term business priorities.
When asked to list their two or three preferred issues that should form the Federation's long-term business planning, respondents replied:
- Reforming the regulatory regime (56%);
- Maximising the resources available for affordable housing supply (53%);
- Reinforcing the sector's independence (46%).
Other priorities included raising the sector's profile (44%), shaping the future of supported and sheltered housing (35%), and building mixed communities (18%). When asked to name the single most important issue, the highest response was for maximising resources for affordable housing supply (24%).
Around half (52%) of respondents had adopted the iN business for neighbourhoods initiative [note 1]. The Federation estimates that across the sector as a whole, around 1.8 million homes are managed by associations who have joined the initiative and made fresh commitments to neighbourhoods, customers and excellence.
The survey demonstrated strong support for the Federation's role as the sector's chief negotiator with Government; 73% strongly or tended to agree the Federation was proactive in shaping policies and initiatives which benefit the sector.
Members also responded positively to other Federation activities; 91% of respondents using the access to specialist information service were very or fairly satisfied, and 77% of all respondents agreed that their organisation had acted on good practice information from the Federation.
The Federation will be using the survey results to highlight areas where it can improve member services. For example, 44% of respondents strongly or tended to agree that the Federation represented value for money, with 33% neither agreeing nor disagreeing (four% either had no opinion or did not answer the question) and 20% strongly or tending to disagree.
- iN business for neighbourhoods is a long-term project to improve the performance of housing associations and challenge negative perceptions of the sector and its customers. www.iNbiz.org
Technical details
The survey was conducted online with emails invitations sent to chief executives of 1,154 Federation member associations. 505 completed questionnaires were returned. Fieldwork was conducted between 26 September and 26 October 2005.
