Accessing the guide
The Housing Association Guide is available here. Tables and forms are included in the relevant appendices.
Using the guide
The Housing Association (HA) Guide is one of the key management tools employed by the Department to deliver its regulatory responsibilities for Housing Associations. It sets out the Department’s guidelines for Registered Housing Associations requiring robust policy and procedural standards across all Associations and equitable quality service provision for social housing tenants.
It also contains the rules and procedures that Associations must comply with in order to meet the conditions for receipt of capital grant from the Northern Ireland Housing Executive (Development Programme Group) [NIHE(DPG)], provided by the Department.
The Guide covers aspects around Development, Finance, Procurement, Governance, and Housing Management functions. It is essential that appropriate Housing Association officers are well informed of The Department’s requirements impacting on their particular function.
The guide has undergone a fundamental review and has been split into the five distinct functional areas.
Development guide
These revised requirements took effect from Monday 2 November 2009
The development guide is further subdivided:
Finance guide
The revised requirements in the Finance guide took effect from Thursday 1 April 2010
Governance guide
The revised requirements in the Governance guide took effect from Thursday 1 April 2010
Housing management guide
The Housing management guide requirements have been introduced on a staggered basis from Friday 21 May 2010
The housing management guide is further subdivided:
Procurement guide
The revised requirements in the Procurement guide took effect from Thursday 23 December 2010
Archived copies of the Housing Association Guide
Requests for archived copies of relevant parts of the HA Guide must be made through the Guide Enquiries email address:
However, such requests should only be made when details of specific guidance in relation to inspection or audit queries in place at a particular time is required.