The conversations shaping the boardroom in housing are shifting. Across the sector, Chairs are focusing on how best to deliver homes and services in the face of economic headwinds, political uncertainty, and rising expectations around customer involvement. Three themes are emerging most strongly: development strategy, regeneration, and embedding the customer voice.
Development Strategy: Balancing Growth, Risk and Innovation
The government’s £39 billion commitment to housing is seen as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to boost supply. Yet Chairs are acutely aware that this opportunity sits alongside significant constraints. Rising borrowing costs, the UK now ranks among the highest globally, are dampening appetite for major refinancing and long-term development. In addition, grant funding disparities between London and the rest of the country are creating real concerns about equity in delivery.
Despite these headwinds, many organisations are pressing ahead with modest pipelines, determined not to lose momentum. But what is becoming clear is that delivery cannot rely solely on the sector’s traditional playbook. Chairs are increasingly looking at how to bring new voices and perspectives into the boardroom to reframe the development challenge.
Recruiting from outside housing is one way they are seeking to drive innovation. Leaders from finance, infrastructure, technology, and other regulated industries are being brought onto boards to provide sharper commercial insights, different approaches to risk, and fresh thinking on partnership models. Some are drawing on private sector experience of complex capital projects; others are borrowing from industries where digital and data-led transformation has reshaped delivery models.
This infusion of external expertise is not about diluting housing values but about equipping boards to make bolder, more informed decisions. It allows organisations to test new ideas, from joint ventures to alternative financing routes, and to challenge the assumption that the sector must always be cautious. The challenge is to strike the right balance: retaining the sector’s social purpose while widening its intellectual toolkit.
In many conversations, Chairs are clear that the housing sector cannot afford to retreat into risk aversion. It must explore ambitious, collaborative approaches, draw on a broader range of skills, and position itself to seize the opportunities this new funding landscape presents.
Regeneration: An Unfinished Agenda
Regeneration remains a priority where existing stock cannot viably be upgraded, yet Chairs describe it as “unfinished business” with government. Complex planning processes, the requirement for resident ballots, and the absence of a clear funding framework all contribute to slow progress.
While the ballot process is rightly seen as essential for legitimacy, it also demands significant investment in engagement, requiring organisations to build trust and “buy in” communities to often disruptive change. Chairs are calling for greater policy stability and investment mechanisms that can make regeneration more deliverable at scale. The sector recognises the potential of regeneration to transform places, but without clearer frameworks and sustained support, the ambition risks stalling.
Embedding the Customer Voice: From Cultural Shift to Governance Evolution
Perhaps the most significant transformation under discussion is the role of the customer in shaping both governance and organisational culture, particularly off the back of the new consumer standard being assessed by the regulator.
Chairs are grappling with how to recruit and empower customers as board members. Traditional recruitment processes often disadvantage customers who may not have boardroom experience but do possess valuable insight and transferable skills. To address this, some organisations are experimenting with innovative approaches: video applications that allow candidates to show personality and conviction, TikTok campaigns to reach younger customers, and the use of community ambassadors to identify and encourage hidden talent. Others are redesigning interviews to draw out transferable skills - such as decision-making, problem-solving, or community leadership - that may not appear on a conventional CV but are essential in the boardroom.
Once appointed, resident board members need the same level of induction, training, and ongoing development as any other non-executive. Chairs emphasise that parity of expectation and support is critical. This includes structured development pathways, mentoring, and opportunities to build confidence in contributing across the full board agenda, not just customer-focused issues.
Beyond governance, there is a wider challenge of embedding customer voice into the culture of the whole organisation. Here the conversation shifts from boardroom structures to the everyday behaviours of staff. Chairs are asking: how do you move from prescriptive policies that dictate process, to empowering staff at every level to do the right thing by the customer? This touches everyone, from operatives delivering repairs, to back-office teams shaping processes, to executive leaders making strategic trade-offs.
The question is not only how to involve customers at board level, but how to ensure the customer perspective runs through every decision, large and small. That means equipping staff with the confidence and discretion to act in the customer’s best interests, embedding trust and accountability across the organisation rather than relying on compliance alone.
Housing boards are navigating a landscape of both constraint and possibility. Development strategies are being reimagined with fresh talent and external insight, regeneration demands sharper policy frameworks, and the customer voice is being elevated in ways that are reshaping both governance and culture. The way Chairs respond to these challenges will shape not just their organisations, but the sector’s ability to deliver homes and communities that stand the test of time.
