In our latest SfH podcast episode, Sarah Forster, CEO at the Good Economy and Secretariat at Sustainability for Housing, is joined by Piers Williamson, Chair of Sustainability for Housing. Piers was previously the CEO at The Housing Finance Corporation (THFC) for 22 years, gaining expertise in the housing sector and growing its loan book to more than £8 billion by time he had left.
This podcast looks at the criteria of the Sustainability Reporting Standard for Social Housing (SRS) and explores how housing associations can approach implementing environmental, social and governance (ESG) into their culture, business and core strategies.
In this latest episode Sarah and Piers discuss SfH’s priorities in 2025, the role of sustainable finance, trends on financial and non-financial reporting and how a new SfH partnership will help the sector make the most of ESG.
Below are some of the key takeaways from this episode.
Looking ahead, what are your main priorities?
Piers commends Brendan Sarsfield, previous Chair of SfH, for conceptualising the framework and showing the relevance of the SRS as a management tool for housing associations.
Drawing on his 22 years of experience at THFC, Piers said: “SfH sits between institutional finance and housing associations. Being able to understand, and be an independent arbiter in the middle, is important.”
Piers highlights that we are all always learning and the framework presents organisations with the opportunity to share and convene ideas.
How does the SRS help housing associations use sustainable finance to reach their Net Zero targets?
Although there are new methods to retrofit homes, he questions whether these are affordable and sustainable for tenants.
Piers further explains that there must be a combination of factors including facilitation from the government, grant regimes of local councils through local planning and help from grid companies.
“We at SfH have an opportunity to put a spotlight on those best practices so we can get faster learning through the system.”
The importance of ESG reporting to the sector
Sarah and Piers discuss how reporting helps housing associations demonstrate their impact and track the progress they have made.
Piers highlighted the importance of housing association being held accountable by regulators and other stakeholders.
There is a growing number of institutional bodies who take ESG reporting, including Net Zero targets and greenwashing, into consideration.
Being aware of trends in non-financial reporting and financial reporting
Piers talks about the UK government’s planned consultation on the implementation of two sustainability standards produced by the International Finance Reporting Standards (IRFS), applying initially to public companies, big banks and investment managers.
He said: “If we could harmonise the two, I think a really great outcome is that effectively financial institutions looking at [the housing sector] and having to account for sustainability and climate change risks, can look at our criteria and say that fits the bill.”
How can the partnership with Housemark improve data and reporting?
Piers notes the importance of having reliable data, particularly if the SfH will move into the assurance environment. He highlights the benefit of delivering a value-added tool through which housing associations can compare and measure levels of their delivery.
Piers said: “There’s a power individually, but there’s also a collective power of all of this.”
He explains there is lobbying power in having over 130 organisations working within a single framework. External groups can see the progress being made, ultimately, highlighting the effectiveness of the sector.
To find out more, listen to the podcast here.
