Join the NHF’s main event for the board members and chairs of housing associations.

Board Leadership is a chance to debate the political, social and economic conditions around housing associations. With NHF colleagues and experts, we'll explore what the future looks like for our sector from a board perspective.

Nowhere else will you find such clear direction on being an effective leader in housing. Board members and chairs from across England will attend this event to learn, network and be inspired. Attend a diverse range of roundtables and talks, explore our exhibition and book your spot onto the networking reception and dinner.

What happened at Board Leadership 2025?

Board Leadership began with an exploration of the political landscape seven months after the General Election. Sonia Sodha from The Observer and Lord Gavin Barwell both spoke about social housing’s link to the growth agenda. Kate Henderson then explained how the sector has had the right signals from government ahead of the Spending Review.

We then shifted from politics to economics. Paul Johnson from the Institute of Fiscal Studies had a mixed view of the economic situation for the sector. Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah from the New Economics Foundation (NEF) spoke about the clear economic benefits to social housing.

The rest of Thursday morning and afternoon featured breakout sessions on AI, credit risk, sustainability and more. We then discussed accountability and responsibility on the mainstage with Carmen Simpson, resident of Phoenix Community Housing and Kevin Brady of Rochdale Boroughwide Housing.

Our keynote speech was delivered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage. She set out the government's ambitions on affordable and social housing. She spoke about her personal passion for social housing and the value of frontline staff.

Day two began with an exploration of devolution and its impact for housing associations. Mike Emmerich from Torus and Cllr Arooj Shah spoke about their experience of devolution and the interplay of providers and local authorities. Jack Shaw of Labour Together said overall we are too centralised as a country.

Afterwards, we had a session with Fiona MacGregor from the Regulator of Social Housing. She spoke about the need for housing associations to have a consistent core strategy and know your risks, factoring in the costs of incoming policy. She advised us to be aware of the transparency standards and make sure we’re sharing our performance gradings with residents.

We had more breakout sessions that explored the details of inspections, cyber security and other day-to-day concerns for boards and chairs. We then gathered again after lunch to speak about building stronger communities. Our panel spoke about the important of building "strong local links" when responding to the different needs of residents across the country.