A significant share of social housing expenditure goes straight to suppliers. When that much money - tenants’ rental money - is being spent externally, procurement can’t just be about finding the lowest price - it has to create a multiplier effect.

Generating something bigger back from expenditure goes far beyond the usual talk of social value. We’ve both worked in social housing for decades and it’s true to say the wider, deeper impact of procurement - not just on bottom lines, but on people, communities and the long‑term health of organisations – has been overlooked for many years. 

Traditionally, procurement in councils and housing associations was all about sourcing the cheapest goods in the most compliant way. That perspective has shifted over time, with the ratio between cost and quality no longer so skewed. But now we’re seeing another change: more housing providers are viewing procurement as a strategic discipline of delivering sustainability outcomes - something that influences long‑term resilience, not just day‑to‑day buying.

There are many reasons behind this shift. Part of it is the daily reality tenants face: rising living costs, higher energy bills and the stress of living in homes that need improvement. At the same time, social landlords are juggling impossible choices - building new homes while trying to remediate existing stock, all against a backdrop of geopolitical volatility, cost inflation, supply‑chain disruption and labour shortages. 

In this environment, every pound of tenants’ rental income has to work harder, and housing providers must show that their spend delivers the best possible value for money.

A long term view is vital. What we buy now has to work for tenants today, but not at the expense of the future. We’ve all seen a window that fails years early or the component no one can replace because a cheap, obscure option was chosen. When that happens, our decisions become someone else’s burden.

Looking ahead also means thinking about the environmental impact of what we buy. If we run through high‑quality materials now or choose products that can’t be sustainably replaced, we’re simply storing up problems for the colleagues who follow us. Timber is a good example: use poor‑quality or unsustainably sourced wood for windows and doors today and future asset teams will face higher costs and fewer options in years to come.

The challenge with taking the long view on expenditure is our sector’s short term budget process. Social landlords in Scotland operate on an annual budgeting cycle, with everything centred on in-year reporting and savings. It’s vital that leadership teams recognise the value of focusing on longer-term outcomes and achieve what Mark Carney described when he was Bank of England governor as ‘breaking the tragedy of the horizon’.

Innovation gets squeezed, too, when budgets have to be spent within the year. But strategic procurement can create the space to look up and see what’s coming: the smaller firms with clever ideas or the products social landlords haven’t yet thought to use. This goes hand in hand with finding the right procurement routes to bring those innovations in compliantly, when they’re needed the most.

Well considered procurement also helps to ensure a housing organisation’s values run through their supply chain. The contractors who turn up at tenants’ doors are, in many ways, the face of social landlords, so we need confidence that they share a joint ethos and understanding on what matters. That’s not just about finding someone willing to take on the work; it’s about engaging with, vetting and awarding contracts to partners who act responsibly, treat tenants with respect and bring a consistent, trustworthy approach to every job. 

The truth is that tenant satisfaction is hard‑wired to strong procurement and contract management. The suppliers we choose - and how we hold them to the standards they promised - directly shape how tenants feel about their social landlord. At Grampian Housing Association we’ve seen a marked improvement in customer satisfaction (scores rose from 80% to 90% over the past year) by working with contractors who have the same values - prioritising customer satisfaction through excellent communication and accountability.

A value‑led approach to procurement can have a huge impact on the local community. New figures show that over the last reporting period, 80% of Grampian’s procurement spend was retained locally with suppliers based in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Moray. 

Working with trusted and often smaller local contractors keeps money in the area and brings in people who genuinely care about doing right by tenants. Social value commitments can fund community projects or small communal improvements that make a big difference. And when suppliers support apprenticeships or local training, they help create a stronger, more sustainable workforce. This is procurement as a force for community wellbeing, not just compliance.

For social housing leaders, the priority is clear: run fair, secure, resilient organisations that deliver lasting benefits for tenants. Given the scale of our sector’s spend on building new homes and maintaining existing ones, that responsibility is significant. A long‑term, value‑led approach to procurement is what turns that spend into something bigger, creating stability, trust and a stronger future for communities.