Standing Firm in Power and Pride: BME National - Past, Present, Future

Black History Month is both remembrance and resolve: a moment to honour the generations who built, organised, and led movements for change and to recommit to the unfinished work before us. In housing, that work is clear: close the gaps in safety, quality, access, and opportunity that still disproportionately affect Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities. Standing firm in power and pride means pairing history’s lessons with today’s urgency and tomorrow’s ambition.

Our past is one of collective action. BME-led housing associations emerged to meet needs the mainstream overlooked, creating culturally specific services, building trust, and proving that resident voice through genuine partnerships with the wider housing sector including the NHF, CIH and Regulator for Social Housing, can shape better outcomes. That legacy guides BME National’s mission: to unify our sector’s BME associations into a single, credible, relevant and authentic voice; to share what works; and to advocate for policies that deliver healthy, safe, and affordable homes for every community.

In the present, we focus on practical, measurable change with the myriad of challenges faced by the sector. We call time on incrementalism where lives and life chances are at stake. That means making equity routine, using data on allocations, repairs, complaints, and satisfaction to reveal disparities early and fix them quickly. It means co-designing services with residents from the outset, because listening is not a meeting; it is a method. And it means urgent action on safety and quality, damp and mould, overcrowding, disrepair, so every home is healthy, and every complaint is handled with empathy and speed. Power, for us, is service; pride is the confidence that comes from knowing who we are and what we can achieve together.

We also champion diversity and inclusion across boards, leadership pipelines, and frontline practice. Talent is everywhere; opportunity must be too. We back transparent recruitment, sponsorship for BME talent, psychologically safe workplaces, and culturally responsive services that treat every resident with dignity. Through partnerships, such as with other housing organisations, the private sector and employment and skills bodies, we seek to turn homes into engines of social mobility, linking skills to real jobs across our organisations and supply chains.

Knowledge sharing is our accelerator. With more than 45 member associations, BME National convenes peers to swap evidence-based practice on damp and mould, energy efficiency, procurement, customer service, and replicating what works at pace and retiring what does not. Collaboration does not dilute challenge; it strengthens it.

Looking ahead, under the leadership of our newly appointed Chair, Barrington Billings, we will take our impact to the next level through three commitments:

1. Sharper accountability: publish sector-ready tools that help boards embed equity into governance and performance, clear metrics, transparent reporting, and time-bound improvement plans.

2. Bolder coalitions: deepen collaboration with the National Housing Federation, the CIH, government, and regulators to campaign for progressive standards on safety, affordability, equality, diversity & inclusion and resident voice, turning front-line insight into policy change by being a critical friend who continuously seek solutions to sector wider challenges.

3. Bigger ladders of opportunity: scale programmes that boost employment and enterprise for BME residents, and grow leadership pathways so our organisations reflect the communities we serve at every level.

Black History Month reminds us that progress has always been hard-won, by people who stood firm when it was difficult to do so. This year, we honour that legacy not only with words but with measurable action: safer homes, fairer services, stronger careers, and louder resident voices. Together, rooted in history, active in the present, and ambitious for the future, BME National will continue to stand firm in power and pride, until equity is not a promise but a practice in every home and every neighbourhood we serve.

Written by Barrington Billings – Chair of BME National