Risk management strategy
The Housing Corporation supports communities across England by subsidising the supply and regulating the quality of affordable homes and associated services for householders whose circumstances make it difficult for them to meet their housing needs in the open market, including the homeless, low income families, key workers and those in need of supported accommodation.
At present the Corporation faces a number of challenges and opportunities. These include tackling homelessness and overcrowding, bringing stock up to the decent home standard, renewing estates; enabling better access to low cost home ownership; helping housing associations to build up a good supply of land, using strategic sites and getting better value for money from S106 agreements: working in low demand areas and linking housing investment to economic development, and finally, continuing to meet rural housing needs. The Corporation will continue to work with other agencies in the housing sector to meet these challenges and opportunities. We are committed to actively supporting housing associations to undertake neighbourhood management and regeneration activities, so housing solutions are not delivered in isolation. We have a role in raising the design quality of publicly funded buildings and spaces and to improve the environmental performance of new and existing stock. Also we are looking at new approaches for housing vulnerable people and an ageing population. The final challenge is to get more from public resources and hence contribute to the Government efficiency agenda.
Relationships with other agencies are essential in order to complete our priorities. Therefore we must manage the risks involved in working with other organisations including local and central government, especially ODPM.
Meeting these challenges requires innovative thinking and new approaches, while continuing to meet the rigorous standards of accountability and corporate governance required of us.
There are risks associated with anything new and untried. We want to embrace new opportunities, recognising that it will rarely be possible to remove risks completely. Our aim, therefore must be to manage risks better and to ensure that effective risk management is integral to the way we think and what we do.
This Risk Management Strategy articulates how we manage risk. It updates and replaces the Risk Management Strategy document published in March 2005: it reflects the evolution of our approach and takes into account the principles and concepts in the revised ‘Orange Book’ published by HM Treasury in October 2004.
Whilst this strategy document sets out defined processes for managing risk, successful risk management can only be accomplished on a day to day basis by staff at all levels through their working practices; it does not simply lie inert in corporate policies and management structures.
