Let me explain why. First, people seem to find the term confusing but a social enterprise is a business that trades, sells its products or services, competes in the marketplace and aims to make a profit – but uses its profits to deliver its social and/or environmental goals.
Many in the housing sector are social enterprises – obvious examples include Coin Street Community Builders, which manages the Oxo Tower, a housing co-op and much more on 12 acres of land on London’s South Bank. The LHA-Asra Group has spawned a whole group of social enterprises working in the construction, gas maintenance and other industries.

When social enterprise was mentioned a few years ago, and the government first launched its Social Enterprise Unit, many treated it as a niche sector.
Although most people are not aware of it, the idea of using business ideas to deliver social change is gaining favour in the nation’s consciousness.

Figures from the Government’s Annual Small Business Survey 2005 estimate that there are at least 55,000 social enterprises in the UK, with a combined turnover of £27bn a year. Social enterprises also contribute £8.4bn a year to the UK economy, almost 1% of annual GDP.
And it’s not just New Labour supporting social enterprise. In January this year, David Cameron sent a dozen members of his shadow cabinet on a bus tour around London’s most successful social enterprises – including Coin Street.

Where do housing associations fit in?

Housing associations already can offer a great deal. They are a well-established sector, with a healthy asset base; they have expertise in running a business; they have purchasing power; and they have the credibility and networks among public and private partners that could help introduce social enterprises to contracting opportunities they would not otherwise be considered for.

But if there’s such a good fit, why aren’t more associations taking a more socially entrepreneurial approach?
In truth, the transition is not easy. Social housing is a highly regulated environment and the Housing Corporation is not always enthusiastic of the possibility that rental income may be subsidising functions that are not closely enough aligned with the housing management imperative.

However, the upside of the organisation embracing entrepreneurialism is often the energy and new lease of life it can give to staff. Talk to any successful social enterprise and you cannot fail to be inspired by the passion of staff who are involved in delivering certain core services with a certain budget and who are striving to see if they can meet more of their social aims through business expansion and trading.

In an interview, David Seviour, former group CEO at LHA, says of the regeneration work the association has done in Leicester’s Braunstone area, that a traditional procurement model would have created eight local jobs. Through Newlife, its social enterprise construction company, 120 jobs and training opportunities were created. Crime in the area also fell, and the area changed for the better.

It is all too easy to carry on doing things as they have always been done. Examples such as LHA-Asra and Coin Street show that so much more is achievable for residents, for staff, for organisations, for whole communities, if we can embrace this entrepreneurial spirit. As David Seviour says, “The key message is that transformational change is about innovation, not about repackaging the old things.”

Tim West is director of the communications agency Society Media. www.socialenterprisemag.co.uk
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