The latest edition of HQN’s The Governor magazine is now available online (and also in print – the old-fashioned, slower, more papery version of online).

HQN, the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence (CaCHE) and the Housing Studies Association (HSA) are delighted to announce their new partnership to produce HQN’s research newsletter, Evidence.

Associations are working harder than ever to bulk up financial strength and build more homes. So why are you getting criticised so much?

It’s getting on for two years since Grenfell. So, what have we done about it? To cut to the chase, this is what Judith Hackitt said about us at the time: first of all, we didn’t know enough about our homes. But we certainly didn’t let that get in the way of cutting costs to the bone at every turn. It’s a pity we’re not so hot at listening to folk or keeping them safe.

HQN is running a series of events which are putting governance under the spotlight. I attended the first in the series in London on Wednesday 27 February. The event was largely attended by officers rather than board members, although some delegates wore two hats – being officers of a particular housing association and board members of another/others (like me). 

How prepared is your organisation for climate change, and what are you doing to tackle these urgent issues? HQN has produced a survey in which we ask housing providers how ready they are for the challenges ahead.

It’s baffling, isn’t it? You go to see a housing association and they tell you how hard it is to get social rents to stack up. And they’re right. Then you read the new Shelter report which says social housing pays for itself. And they’re right too. How can this be?

Breaking Bad was a classic box set, wasn’t it? The hero of the hour was Walter White. He spent a lot of his time looking after huge piles of cash. My goodness, we do need him back, don’t we? Housing associations have exactly the same problem as he did. (Though I hasten to add that the money has come from bonds not drugs.)