NASHO is the National Association of Social Housing Organisations and was formed at an inaugural congress held in May 2002 and formally launched by the then National Housing Minister, Sanki Mthembi-Mahanyele.

NASHO is a membership-based federation of 15 social housing institutions collectively owning and/or managing approximately 23 044 units and operating throughout the country. Affiliated/member institutions are all non-profit institutions and operate within rental and co operative tenure options for low to middle income families.

Mission: To represent the legitimate interests of its member organizations by various means, including representation, advocacy, information provision and support.

Vision: To be the recognised representative of social housing institutions in South Africa, offering them a quality service.

2. Mandate and Legal Base of Organisation

NASHO is a registered Non-Profit Organisation with a registered constitution.

The national structure consists of the:

• National Council which is represented by all accredited members,
• National Office Bearers [NOB] which consists of:
  • Joel Mkunqwana - Chairperson
  • Judy Vather - Vice Chairperson
  • Andrew Wiseman - Treasurer
  • Renier Erasmus - General Secretary
• The National Executive Committee that consists of the National Office Bearers and one member of each region.
• The process of establishing regions of NASHO has commenced and committees now meet in Gauteng, Eastern Cape, Western Cape and Kwa Zulu Natal.
• The Mpumalanga region was successfully launched on 3 June 2005.
• The aims of the regions are to ensure strategic local presence in housing activities, the transfer of knowledge, sharing of information and encouragement of networks.

3. Core Business Activities/ Goods and Services to Membership

In the nearby future all SHIs will be need to be accredited.

NASHO will work with SHIs to ensure that they are supported to achieve accreditation

• NASHO, together with the Social Housing Foundation (SHF), launched the Self Regulation Programme (SRP) in October 2009 which aims at getting all member SHIs accreditation ready.  The closure workshop for the SRP was conducted in March 2010 where NASHO members requested the federation to continue parts of the programme.
• Maintenance of the web site to ensure that members are kept abreast with regard to the latest developments within the sector.
• The development of a Public Sector Capacity Building Program to ensure that lines of communication are open between social housing institutions and local, provincial and national government.

All the programs mentioned above are in their infancy stage and need to be sustained to ensure that the sector is enriched. An important factor for NASHO is that of capacity building and training for its members. It has also been highlighted that other role players/stakeholders need capacity building as well so that there is consensus as well as collaborative ventures. NASHO aims to drive and facilitate these processes. Furthermore, plans are underway to strategically position NASHO for its future role as an important partner within the social housing sector in South Africa.