‘Money makes the world go around’ goes the song and the saying. We’ll that’s nowhere more true than in the world of housing associations.
The UK has had a housing crisis for as long as anyone can remember. And over recent years the cost of living crisis has only made things worse for the hundreds of thousands of households struggling to afford a decent home.
So, like most other housing associations, Futures does all it can to try to build and acquire more new affordable homes. But bricks, mortar, land, plumbers, windows, toilets, garden paths and kitchen sinks don’t come for free – they all cost money. And soaring inflation and the after effects of the pandemic have pushed the prices of many of those things sky high. So how do we keep going?
The answer of course is the same as anyone who needs a little extra to achieve their plans in life – we borrow. And because Futures already owns more than 10,000 homes we can use those as security to get a good deal on our borrowing. But that’s not the end of the story. We borrow large amounts and lenders want to be absolutely sure they are going to get their money back before they will offer us the best loan deals.
To help us convince lenders we’re a safe bet and worth a good deal we get an independent credit rating. This is a certified rating from a specialist agency that lenders know they can trust to get independent insight into our creditworthiness.
This year S&P Global ratings once again gave Futures an ‘A+’ credit rating – a great result in a time of economic, political and global uncertainty. Alongside our G1/V1 ratings from the regulator this presents us as a financially solid and trustworthy organisation worthy of investing in. That means cheaper loans which means more cash available to build more and better homes for families in need. So a letter and a symbol together might not look like much – but when it means we can work harder to provide more homes it’s really a big deal.
Find out more about our finances this year in our full financial report.
