Housing Associations In The Uk - Fulfilling A Very Important Social Objective

The housing associations in the UK were set up to be non profit entities that would focus on providing affordable or social housing for the working class in need of such houses. If they do happen to report a surplus, that extra money would be used in the maintenance of the existing houses and provide the required finance to build new ones. They are the major suppliers of houses on rent in the UK and many of them also run schemes that are skewed towards the consumer, in terms of affordability and flexibility, such as the shared ownership one. This was launched specifically to help people who would want to buy a house but could not afford to make the entire payment outright.

These associations, besides providing and making available a continuous stock of houses, also manage large property estates. They also play a very important part in setting up housing facilities for the disabled, mentally challenged individuals, people seeking rehabilitation and trying to come out of an addiction, homeless people with nowhere to go, as well as women wanting to stay separate from their families or spouse, due to domestic violence.

Their activities and functioning is funded by the tenant rentals as well as service charges that they collect from the people staying in their properties. To that extent, they do run a commercial enterprise and do not have to depend upon any form of donations or charity to fund their daily activities.

Their status as a private entity and not being under the control of the state has often been challenged. In the year 2004, the UK government acceded to the ruling of the EU that these associations must indeed be considered as public entities and cannot remain independent private bodies. It was also decided that they would come under judicial scan, as and when required, on the grounds that they were fulfilling the responsibilities of the Government in the provision of social housing to the needy and therefore had to be made accountable for their performance.

This issue of the housing associations in the UK needing to be public entities and requiring judicial scanning stemmed out of the political exposure gained by it. Since these associations did not make any contribution to the UK public sector fund raising initiatives, but had a borrowing amount that had piled up to 30bn, the political factor had to come in, since excessive borrowing by the Government, which it seeks to control, had a direct impact on its performance as a member of the EU and the single currency.

However given the fact that the gap between the rent charged by these associations and the house ownership rates prevalent in the market has been steadily increasing, their presence is very critical to ensure that social housing is given the right thrust and focus and houses do not become unaffordable. Besides helping out the worker class in their aspirations to own a house, these associations also play a very vital role in helping out the elderly households to have a roof over their head, given the fact that they are no longer earning members in the family.