Case study: New thinking about social value in the social housing sector

How has thinking around social value changed in recent years within the housing sector?

Over the last decade, I have seen a growing interest from housing associations in measuring social impact and delivering social value. Approaches have evolved significantly. In its infancy, thinking about social value was largely transactional: social value was predominantly used as a framework to inform procurement decisions and as a marketing tool to promote the positive impact housing associations were having on their local communities.

What I now see is that organisations are embracing social value as part of their broader transformation agenda. They see community well-being and environmental sustainability as a springboard to accelerate strategic change within their organisation and their communities.

What factors have driven this new thinking?

The value for money agenda has played a significant role in lifting social value up the agenda. Social landlords, as non-profit organisations, have been under increased pressure to demonstrate the impact they deliver for the money spent. As they don’t measure success through profit, they have had to find other ways to quantify their value, and ESG metrics are beginning to gain widespread traction.

Another critical driver has been the Public Services (Social Value) Act 2013. Social housing associations are classified as public procuring authorities and are accountable for money invested in housing projects. This has sharpened their focus on becoming responsible, mission-led organisations. About £750 million a year is spent by housing associations on community investment projects. The Act has given them a framework to evaluate how effectively their supply chain is contributing to and enhancing these social value outcomes.

How can organisations transition from a transactional to a transformative approach to social value?

Strategic leadership is critical. Social value needs to be owned by an organisation’s board. It needs to feature in the corporate strategy development process so that the organisation’s executive team has a clear set of social value priorities to focus on over the short and long term. Social value is becoming something the sector explicitly plans for rather than reports on.

We have also seen many organisations start to employ specialist social value manager or advisor roles who have the experience and expertise to implement various social value programmes. These individuals typically bring together cross-functional groups on collaboration projects to maximise social value reach across all areas of the organisation. This way, social value becomes more deeply embedded in an organisation’s day to day way of working, rather than sitting in a silo.

Can you highlight any examples of good practice you have seen?

The most successful examples of transformational social value thinking balance clear strategic intent with practical application. For example, one large housing association has recently refreshed its asset appraisal methodology. This tool helps prioritise how the organisation invests resource into new build, regeneration and retrofitting projects. Social value, particularly community regeneration outcomes, are now a significant part of that appraisal methodology and will be factored into all future investment decisions.

Not only does this represent a significant step forward in being able to demonstrate a strategic commitment to regeneration at a practical level, but the data collected by the organisation as part of its appraisal methodology also provides robust evidence for targeted social value investment, which can be tracked and reported over time.  

This kind of thinking and approach forms part of our Social Value Roadmap for the social housing sector - powerful, forward-looking integration of social impact valuation in all aspects of decision-making.

What advice would you give an organisation that wants to enhance its social value and ESG outcomes?

Keep it simple! The burgeoning interest in ESG and social value has led to many organisations developing and adopting their social value models that are complicated to understand and even more complicated to deploy. Avoid unnecessary complexity and a lack of standardisation by adopting robust tried and tested ESG or social value models, such as the UK Social Value Bank, giving you powerful and valuable insight into what you will do and what you achieve.

Finally, remember to trace a golden thread back to what is going on in your local community and what your local residents want and need. Social value is about empowering people to improve their own lives and their local environment, and the choices you make as an organisation should reflect that goal. Let’s be clear, without creating impact, there is no social value.

Author bio

Andrew van Doorn is the Chief Executive of HACT, the Housing Associations Charitable Trust. HACT is a UK-wide charity and social enterprise that works with housing associations and the broader housing sector to deliver value through insight, innovation, and collaboration.