Mapping of Housing Associations - Phase 1 & 2

As you may be aware, the SFHA carried out a survey in October 2009 to understand the current Social Enterprise Landscape across the Housing Association sector.

Phase I: Understand the Landscape:

The objective was to gather a "top line" view of the nature and scale of existing Social Enterprise and Environmental Action activities by Housing Associations, with an initial quantitative overview of the SE Development.

A survey questionnaire was drafted, road-tested and launched to gather information on social enterprise activity across 132 SFHA members. We received 79 valid responses (60%) These results provide a solid base of data from which robust top line conclusions from phase 1 can be drawn.

The survey was made available online, and members were invited to participate, via a series of communications from the SFHA Chief Executive supported by follow-up e-mails and telephone calls from within both the SFHA and Citrus Mind Ltd.

There are three types of recognised Social enterprises: (Social enterprise should not be confused with Social and Community Services as described later in this article)

• Model 1: financial return only
• Model 2: trade-off between financial vs. social return
• Model 3; lock-step, achieves both financial + social return

Key Findings:

• At least 30% of SFHA members already run Social Enterprises, achieving over £20m of annual revenue and providing employment for more than 300 people

• These Social Enterprises will also be delivering additional social and environmental value, raising the overall social return on each pound invested in the sector

• Social Enterprise provides an opportunity to create a sustainable business model

• 24 respondents active in Social Enterprise run a total of 82 individual enterprise projects.

• Over half of the respondents already run (and financially subsidise) a collective total of over 125 social & community welfare services, which, unlike Social Enterprises, do not set out to generate an operating surplus

• 56% of this group are actively considering extension into social enterprise, but lack the confidence, resources and/or knowledge to take this step.

• Over a quarter of those not participating beyond core provision of affordable housing would consider engaging in Social Enterprise with greater access to additional support and resources to help them

• There is considerable interest cross the membership in Social Return on Investment -SROI over 50% of respondents expressed an interest in using this in the near future

Social Enterprise Mapping – Phase 2

The SFHA is delighted to announce that their application to the Big Lottery in respect of phase 2: Social Enterprise mapping has been accepted.

Phase 2

The Big Lottery funding allows us to add qualitative insight into the key issues identified in Phase I, to identify some of the common areas of challenge and uncover opportunities for collaboration, particularly those where “quick wins” can help build further momentum. Combining this insight with the findings from Phase 1, we can develop a Training Needs Analysis, the basis for a range of tools, methods and support interventions that can enable HA’s to overcome barriers and manage successful social enterprises.

The SFHA will be commencing phase 2 in Aug 2010 and will continue to update the membership on this exciting initiative.

Related Documents

Raising the Bar - Social Enterprise Report May 2011

Social Enterprise Mapping Project - Phase 1 Results