In his opening remarks of the session called ‘The UK Perspective’ at the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations Finance Conference 2023, Nick Pollard said the last three years had been the most challenging he had experienced during his 20-plus years working in social housing.

Housing associations have had to overcome the issues posed by the pandemic, the cost of living crisis, the war in Ukraine and, more recently, the conflict in the Middle East.

Sophie Taylor, deputy director of finance at Newport City Homes, a 10,000 circa home landlord based in Wales, and Nathan Mallows, director of finance, people, and change at Coastline Housing Group, with 5,000 homes in Cornwall, then gave brief presentations before the panel took questions from the audience.

Nick Pollard said: “It was a privilege to chair this illuminating and informative discussion. It is very pleasing to hear the perspectives of housing associations in the devolved nations and regions as they offer a different point of view from their metropolitan and larger counterparts.

“I, for one, believe there is a huge amount of positive work being done in finance teams in various housing associations in social landlords up and down the country. There are also a number of opportunities such as Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) which are very exciting and ones we must take full advantage of if we are to overcome the current economic challenges.”