What is a housing
association
Housing associations are the main
providers of new affordable housing.
There are just over 50 housing associations working in
Newham. They currently manage 11,968 homes and house at least twice
that many people.
Registered Social Landlord (RSL) is the technical name for
social landlords that are registered with the Housing Corporation -
most are housing associations, but there are also trusts,
co-operatives and companies.
The Housing Corporation is a Government organisation that funds
and regulates housing associations.
Housing associations are run as businesses but they do not trade
for profit. Any surplus is ploughed back into the organisation to
maintain existing homes and to help finance new ones.
A feature of housing associations is that, a committee or board
of management governs them. A board might include tenants,
representatives from local authorities and community groups,
business people and politicians.
Some housing associations were founded centuries ago but many
trace their origins to the 1960s and over the last decade, many new
associations have been formed.
There are housing associations that were founded to meet a
particular social groups, such as people with disabilities or
ethnic minority communities.