As part of the business planning process Innisfree has analysed its position within the social housing market place. This exercise has identified the following issues.

What is special and distinctive about Innisfree?

Innisfree's Irishness.
Innisfree is the only Irish led, general needs social housing provider in London concentrating exclusively on the Greater London area.
Innisfree's style of working is based on co-operation, openness and trust.
Board, staff and tenant expectations of high standards in conduct, behaviour and performance.
Innisfree's non-political, non-religious focus.

Key Strengths:

Good relationship with tenants and customers.
Good relationship with funders and regulators.
Well regarded by partners and stakeholders.
Consistently high ratings from our regulators.
High demand for our services.
Strong Board and committees with a range of skills and expertise.
Committed and competent staff team.
Small, flexible and responsive organisation.
Responds positively to change in innovative ways.
Strong balance sheet.

Key Challenges:

The environment in which Innisfree operates is constantly changing. Innisfree recognises that it will need to anticipate and respond to such changes to build on its position and past success.

Some of these challenges include:

Pressure to keep costs and rents down.
Meeting the ever increasing expectations of tenants.
Increasing poverty amongst our tenants and the greater likelihood of debt problems.
Addressing the problems of anti-social behaviour.
Scarcity of suitable land and sites for development at affordable prices.
A reduction in the number of investment partners approved for development funding.
Increasingly complex new legislation & directives from government & E.U.
Decent Homes Standards.
Supporting People requirements and the drive by commissioning bodies to reduce the number of providers.
The acute housing needs of increasingly vulnerable clients, especially within the BME and refugee communities.
An increasingly fragile economic environment.

Key Opportunities for Innisfree:

There continues to be an interest from mainstream housing associations and other partners to work with Innisfree on new developments and projects. Innisfree believes that this will continue notwithstanding the focus on fewer, developing associations, the greatly changed approach to BME associations and the difficult financial environment. These opportunities have arisen as a result of Innisfree's:

Good reputation and high profile within the social housing sector and the Irish movement.
Strong connections and relationships with the boroughs in which it works.
Positive approach to working in partnership.
Well respected position within the Irish community.
Continually improving performance.
Our strong balance sheet.
Willingness to innovate and to address the needs of the wider BME community including refugees and migrants.