NHF wants diverse neighbourhoods not just bricks and mortar

As well as building houses, they should help provide tenants with community support, education and transport, he said.

Jim Coulter, chief executive of the National Housing Federation, said the perception of housing associations had to change if they are to survive.

We must demonstrate that we are more than just developers - that we are in business for neighbourhoods Jim Coulter National Housing Federation

Instead of being seen just as the builders of homes for the deprived and vulnerable, they should be working to help residents take pride in their neighbourhoods, he said.

Tackling crime and anti-social is key to ensuring housing associations are recognised for the positive contribution they can make to society.

"We are a powerful independent social force, with a combined turnover of �6bn each year," Mr Coulter told 400 housing association chiefs at a one-day conference organised by the NHF.

"But we must demonstrate that we are more than just developers - that we are in business for neighbourhoods.

"We would be letting people down if we don't take this opportunity now to try to move the social housing agenda forward."

'Making a difference'

Mr Coulter said while there were individual successes among housing associations, "collectively we have failed".

"If we don't start succeeding as a sector, then we will be damned as a sector," he said.

Coulter: Challenging prejudice

"We can make a difference and, indeed, we already do. But we need to make a bigger difference to our work and that is exactly what we are faced with today."

Mr Coulter was outlining the federation's vision of how England's 1,400 not-for-profit housing associations, which manage 1.8m homes and employ 100,000 people, can reposition their work and improve their reputation.

Under the banner In Business for Neighbourhoods, the federation hopes to try to change the current understanding of the way housing associations work.

The project, the federation's biggest ever, will be officially launched at its annual conference in Birmingham on 24 September.

Wally Olins, the force behind the Orange communications logo, is acting as an adviser to the concept and design of the project.

Since 1974, housing associations have helped 150,000 people into home ownership.

More than 750,000 homes have been transferred from local councils to housing associations since 1988.