SFHA publishes final Covid financial data returns

SFHA has published  its final summary of financial data returns on the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the social housing sector in Scotland. 
 
The report is based on the information from our own returns, analysed alongside the data collected by SHR and Housemark from January 2020 until the end of March 2021.
 
With the economic impact affecting different sectors in different ways – in an attempt to understand its impact on the social housing sector – SFHA took the decision to collect data quarterly on the impact of Covid-19 from members to allow us to identify and track trends.
 
Our data collection has now ended, with some of our indicators now included within the ongoing SHR Covid return, which is now quarterly. The final report on our data collection is attached and shows:

• Arrears rose fairly quickly at the start of the pandemic, letting ground to a halt, developments were paused which further reduced expected rental income, and investment programmes were also put on ice. 
• Housing associations shifted their focus to supporting tenants in even more ways than before and levels of tenancy sustainment work increased significantly. This has resulted in arrears levelling off, and they now stand at around the same level as pre-pandemic. 
• Development and improvement works have slowly restarted, and any cost increases are yet to be fully realised. 
• The one area where a negative financial impact remains is void loss. Our previous reports showed significant increases in voids losses between 2019 and 2020. Based on the latest submissions which consider data for the full financial year, the responses from this particular sample of SFHA members suggest a 40% increase in void loss. With restrictions lifting, allocations have started to increase, so it’s likely void loss will reduce in the months ahead. 

The sector’s financial resilience has been tested since the pandemic began, but the signs are positive that the stress-testing and good governance in place see the sector in a good position, despite the challenges. 
 
SFHA would like to thank our members who have supported us with this data collection. It has provided information which has proven to be hugely useful during discussions with the Social Housing Resilience Group (SHRG), and lenders have advised SFHA it has helped maintain their confidence in the sector due to the willingness to be transparent and to seek to identify any emerging concerns. 
 
We will continue to monitor the data being collected by SHR and others and urge members with any specific Covid-related impacts to get in touch.