The conference's plenary sessions provided attendees with absorbing and thought-provoking presentations. Topics included:

• What Tenants Want
• The future for Sheltered Housing services
• Critical Issues and Emerging Themes from the Commission on the Future of Housing in NI ( from Lord Best pictured right) and
• How Schools and Housing Providers can work together to benefit pupils, families and the wider community.

To look at a pictorial report of the business end of Conference 09 click on Conference on Flickr. The opportunity to network is an important element of the annual conference. At Conference 09 the drinks reception was sponsored by Oaklee Housing. For a pictorial report click on Flickr.

Overall Sponsor

This year Nuaire was the Conference's overall sponsor. Pictured on the right is Nuaire's Alison McCormick with NIFHA's Chair, Ray Cashell. Nuaire designs and manufactures energy efficient domestic, commercial and renewable ventilation solutions.

Making the Connections

"Undoubtedly, the best conference ever."

One of the many comments received on Conference 08 where delegates explored the myriad of connections between housing associations and government policy, the wider business community, colleague organisations, and service users.

Conference 08 had a range of thought provoking plenary sessions and workshops.

The opening address was from Margaret Ritchie MLA, (pictured right) Minister for Social Development. The Minister spoke about the "connections" in the New Housing Agenda that ensures everyone has access to a decent warm affordable home.  Ms Richie said the conference "sat well within the context of the New Housing Agenda.  There are several key components within it that connect together to ultimately ensure that everyone should have the opportunity to live in a decent, warm home that is affordable to them."

The 'View from the Hill' Panel

The first plenary session was an opportunity for members to ask MLAs a variety of questions.

We welcomed to the View from the Hill panel Jonathan Craig, Tom Elliott, Tommy Gallagher, Anna Lo and Fra McCann (pictured left and below) to the Conference. Many of the MLAs took the opportunity to remain at the conference and chat with members to find out more about what is happening on the front line of social housing provision. Later, they were joined by the Chair of the Social Development Committee, David Simpson MLA who facilitated, with Peter McCallion (Clerk to the SD Committee), a workshop on how the committee functions, its purpose and how we can work with its members.

David Orr (pictured right), Chief Executive of NHF, provided a thought provoking talk on HAs: Independent bodies or Agents of Government? Meanwhile, his colleague Corine Meier (pictured below right) provided an insight in the increasing Impact of EU policies on our members.

During the day delegates had the opportunity to attend a variety of workshops:Waste not, Want not!, Connecting with the Assembly, The Delivery Dilemma, Connecting with the Community, Sustainable Development: Decisions and Consequences, The Communications Connection and Procurement in Maintenance & Repairs.

Around the Houses Panel

Conference 08 opened with a Ministerial Address from Margaret Ritchie MLA and closed with participation by the Minister of State for the Department of the Environment in Ireland.

Michael Finneran TD together with Heather Cousins (DSD), Alan Crowe (Co-ownership Housing), Grainia Long (CIH), Kathleen McKillion (Irish Council for Social Housing) and Paddy McIntyre (NIHE) took a range of question from the floor on the present and future of social housing North and South. The session was superbly facilitated by Jamie Delargy of UTV.

Renewables Ireland (RIL) was our main sponsor at Conference 08.

Their representatives are pictured left explaining to Minister Ritchie the benefits of the products and services they provide.

Later in the conference Tony Gordon, a Director of RIL, hosted a workshop on the practical application of renewable energy within homes.

Our other exhibitors are listed below:

Renewables Ireland with Margaret Ritchie MLA and
Frank Dunne, NIFHA Chair.

The 2007 Conference's opening address came from The Department for Social Development's Permanent Secretary, Alan Shannon (pictured right).

In his address Mr Shannon announced an additional £20 million investment for the 2007-08 financial year by the government for the building programme. He also commented "...all of us working in housing must work in partnership together to find ways to use existing resources more effectively and to think creatively about how to generate alternative sources of funding to meet the demand for social and affordable housing."

Members can view notes from Mr Shannon's speech in the members only section of NIFHA's website.

The lender's perspective was examined by Steve Amos (pictured first on left) of Barclays Bank plc in a continuation of the opening session. This was followed by talks from two representatives from Holland, Arjen van Gijssel speaking about Social Housing: its impact on civil society and Frank Koster who spoke about Choice-based lettings.

All speakers left delegates with much to think about and discuss during the conference's breaks.

The conference offered an extensive list of workshops for delegates to undertake. These included sessions on planning, finance, work-life balance, the environment, sustainability, lobbying equality and modern construction challenges.

"Question Time" which included Heather Cousins (DSD), John McPeake (NIHE), Brendan Curran (Sinn Fein) and Gary McFarlane (CIEH-NI) gave delegates and panellists alike the opportunity to discuss a wide range of pressing issues affecting the social housing sector. Delegates agreed it was a superb chance to promote debate.