Social landlords have been urged to improve their governance and risk management standards by the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH).
The RSH has highlighted that ongoing financial pressures means there is “little margin for error” when it comes to instilling resilience in social housing.
This pressure is mounting due to growing needs to make improvements in light of Awaab’s Law and the upcoming revised Recent Homes Standard.
As such, the RSH is urging social landlords to recognise the importance of good governance to navigate these challenges and provide better outcomes for tenants.
The regulator is also recommending boards and councillors to use robust data, spanning a wide range of business activity, to manage and mitigate strategic risks. This could also extend to stress testing of their businesses to ensure they can deal with external shocks as well as risks with tenants’ homes.
“Ignoring the value of good governance weakens social landlords’ resilience against risk,” said Fiona MacGregor, CEO at the RSH.
“This is more important than ever, at a time when risks are intensifying and pressure is growing to deliver more and better social homes.
“Only by focusing on governance, informed by robust data and risk management processes, can landlords make the right strategic decisions and improve social housing in the long-term.”
