When I first arrived at the Housing Corporation I made clear that we too wanted to be In Business for Neighbourhoods. I pointed to the £500 million of added value activities which each year the sector is bringing to communities around the country and my desire that the Corporation should seek to facilitate this effort.

Since then the pressures on you and us have continued to grow - the drive to reduce homelessness, reductions in Supporting People resources, the review of Low Cost Home Ownership products, the Gershon efficiency drive, the emphasis on choice-based approaches, the review of recycled capital grant fund, the advent of risk-based regulation, the increasing demands of inspection - and I recognise this is not an exhaustive list.

The question can then fairly be asked - is the Corporation, indeed can the Corporation, truly be In Business for Neighbourhoods? Is it really concerned about front-line delivery of joined up services or is it just about driving down unit costs and meeting statutory requirements?
My answer is that we can be and we will be In Business for Neighbourhoods. And the evidence is already there:

• our strategic role on RHBs ensuring the regional housing strategies recognise the wider sustainable communities agenda
• our work on rolling out anti social behaviour strategies
• our commitment to move to eco-homes 'very good' rating for all new development after April 2006
• our provision of design training to developing associations across the country
• our revamp of IGP with a new prospectus due in the summer
• the production of a new supported housing strategy, to be published later in the Spring
• the production of a new BME action plan, out for consultation in the next week or two
• the publication of our Northern Way strategy, 21 commitments to renewal and growth in the north.

But let's first recap on what In Business is all about. It is about what you can do to deliver sustainable communities and neighbourhoods. It's the project that you have set out for yourselves. To redefine what you do. To forge new relationships with your stakeholders and to work collaboratively with them and with each other. To be excellent in what you offer to the residents and communities you serve.

I am clear that to be successful in this endeavour depends first of all upon the quality of leadership that boards provide to their organisations and to the sector. The quality of governance is critical to the success of any organisation. If the sector change programme is to achieve its objectives, you will need to be determined in your commitment to change and improvement in your organisation, credible in the leadership you provide to the people who work for you, and capable and willing to take the tough decisions that you face if you are to secure the step change in performance that you have committed to in the objectives for iN Business.

I'll tell you what I think the measures of your success will be - and none of them should come as news to you.

Tackling disadvantage

The hardest test is the difference you can make in tackling disadvantage and exclusion. If this is not the core purpose of housing associations, there is little to differentiate you from the range of other bodies that can build and manage homes.

Unfortunately, the bare facts suggest that there are some areas of the country where the low level of housing association allocations to statutory homeless households is a genuine cause for concern. It is not clear how this has happened, how some associations seem to have drifted a little off course from their core purpose of serving those most in need, embedded within a statutory duty to do so.

The Government's new 5 Year Housing Plan commits the Government to reduce the number of households living in insecure temporary accommodation by 50% by 2010. This will be achieved through a number of means.