Supporting community cohesion

In 2025, NHF members expressed concerns about deepening division within communities due to growing far-right sentiment across the country.

Housing associations play a key role in supporting cohesive communities through building a sense of belonging and local connection so we have developed a programme of work to support members as they take steps to mitigate and prevent division in our communities.

We’ve identified three key areas where we will focus our support for members.

Community anchors

We’ll share experiences and lessons from housing associations across the country that are working with communities to address challenges. This will include a wide range of topics from organisational approaches to antiracism and addressing hate crime, to using data analysis to focus resources on geographical areas of need.

Political engagement

The government is aware of these challenges and we are speaking with MHCLG about the role of housing associations in supporting cohesion, and how we can tie in NHF work with theirs.

We are also developing guidance for members on how best to engage with politicians on a local and regional level as new political groups enter the mainstream.

Social housing allocations

We have engaged closely with members to help clarify how social homes are allocated. We’ll share more on this in due course.