Welcome to Housing Matters

With our AGM scheduled in September, now is the perfect time to look back on the past year. Thanks to the support of our staff, tenants and stakeholders, we are successfully moving on from Covid-19 being a crisis business continuity event to a sense of settling down into a new sense of normality.

Throughout the pandemic, we have prioritised the safety of our tenants and employees at all times. This has meant pausing or adapting our services to avoid unnecessary risks to people. As many other organisations have experienced, the ‘pingdemic’ in July caused high numbers of staff to self-isolate in case of possible Covid infection. This was an additional challenge to our operations. But we are pleased we have been able to maintain essential services to our tenants and provide homes for people in desperate housing need. We have also continued investing in our tenants’ homes to ensure they can live (and if necessary self-isolate) safely and reasonably comfortably.

Highest ever accreditation

Given the challenges of the last year, I am absolutely delighted that Broadland employees responded to the annual Best Companies survey by ranking us a ‘Top 10’ housing association and a two-star (‘outstanding’) organisation to work for. This is our highest ever accreditation.

The top of the scale is three stars, so there is still room for us to improve. We have set up an independent staff group to look at the survey responses more closely, to identify possible solutions to issues raised, especially in areas where a number of people have noticed the same problem.

New corporate strategy consultation

We are currently seeking the views of staff, Broadland members, tenants and stakeholders on our proposed new 4-year corporate strategy, due to be finalised by the Board in November this year. This feedback will be crucial in helping to shape our direction over the next few years.

We also consulted with staff before the recent introduction of hybrid working. Since August, most Broadland staff who were office-based before the pandemic have become agile homeworkers. They will spend an average of 60% of their time working from home, and 40% in the office. However, we are also accommodating employees who need different working arrangements to support their health and wellbeing. The new working arrangements will also reduce our carbon footprint as an organisation.

Developing our staff is a key strand of Broadland’s corporate strategy. Our regular Challenge and Change events throughout the year give employees the chance to learn new skills and challenge their preconceptions, as well as get together and socialise in a non-work setting. During the pandemic, many of the Challenge and Change events had to go online, but at the last event staff were able to take part in some of the activities in person. There was some really positive feedback after the pressures of lockdown.

Active fundraising for our staff charity Nelson’s Journey also resumed after lockdown. Our staff association CARE organised a group bike ride that raised £1,200 for the charity, which supports bereaved children and young people in Norfolk.

Working together to end homelessness

Our Homes for Cathy workshops continue to go from strength to strength. These went online during the pandemic, focusing on different challenges for addressing homelessness in the east. The People From Abroad team at Norfolk County Council delivered our most recent webinar, on migrant homelessness. Housing providers and charities from across the eastern region joined the event. We know that coming together with our stakeholders and partners in this way, we can work much more effectively to end homelessness in all its forms in our region.

I hope you enjoy reading this issue of Housing Matters.