Community cohesion roundtables – summary of discussions

In the early autumn of 2025, the NHF assembled a new community cohesion task and finish group to enable us to respond to member requests for more support in dealing with rising tensions within their communities. As part of this work, we ran five roundtables with members.

These sessions had several aims, including:

• Better understand the operational challenges and experiences on the ground for housing associations.
• Identify what support or signposting we can provide to members to manage or overcome challenges.
• Use our new insight to inform conversations with the government on their work on cohesion.

The roundtables were conducted under Chatham House rules, with members from every region, small and large, general needs and supported or specialist housing. Discussions focused on five themes:

• Rising tensions
• Impact on staff and residents
• Political and media pressures
• Partnership working
• Organisational responses

This report summarises the discussions on these themes and details how we will support NHF members through this period.

It also includes examples of how housing associations are responding to these challenges.

NHF members can log in to download the report.

Find out more about our work in this area.