Moat Housing chief executive John Barker has warned that volunteer housing association boards are steering the sector towards disaster.
Speaking at a breakout session at the Chartered Institute of Housing conference, Barker fuelled the debate over unpaid board members by telling delegates: "The governance of housing associations by boards of volunteers has the potential to be a recipe for disaster for the sector."

He said unpaid boards could very easily make incorrect structural decisions and called for urgent action to address what he called the "risk culture" which resulted in a failure to understand clients.

Barker also bemoaned one of social housing's perennial bugbears – rent restructuring. He said it was unwanted interference that left a "massive hole" in the finances of registered social landlords: "It's the principal I dislike. What's it got to do with the government what the rent is at 17 Acacia Avenue?" he asked.

He said he hoped in future it could be left to RSLs to do the things they are "in the best position to manage".

He added that predictions of a large rise in the number of single-person households would cause serious problems for houses that RSLs are presently building to cater for homeless families.