David Cowans, chief executive of the Places for People Group, said in the group's annual report: "If we are building homes for sale and moving into their markets it would be churlish to object to it. There's so much work to be done anyway and we all need to be working flat out."
The government is considering whether or not to expand the payment of grant to private developers. A decision to do so would cause outcry from the sector.
Cowans added that he would like the rules to be changed so that social housing grant depreciated over time in associations' accounts, allowing them to borrow more.
"If this applied to social housing grant then it would allow us to significantly increase our borrowing and extend our development programme, something the government wants us to do."
His comments came in the organisation's annual report, published this week. It showed the Preston-based group increased its turnover by £32.7m from £164.5m last year.
Places for People's private housebuilding arm Emblem, set up 18 months ago, now has a turnover of £2m.
The report also highlighted the risk that changes to housing benefit and interest rates would pose to the group's finances.
It said that an increasing proportion of development costs were met through loans rather than grant and the group had borrowed £60.5m during the year. Most of the group's debt is fixed rate, but a 1% rise in interest rates would still cost it £3m. However the group's board said its policies were appropriately prudent to weather the storm. Social housing lettings raised an extra £100,000 and market rent income rose £800,000.
But the pension fund of the group's largest housing association had a £25m deficit.
The assets of North British Housing Association's pension scheme sank by £8.6m in value since March last year.
Source
Housing Today
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