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A fair recovery for our communities, good homes and better services – my focus as G15 chair
Today Geeta Nanda becomes chair of the G15 group of London’s largest housing associations. She explains what she plans to focus on during her tenure
By working together, the G15 – the group of London’s largest housing associations – proudly makes the case for more people to have access to an affordable, safe, secure place to call home.
We champion the remarkable contribution good homes and communities can make to people’s lives, as well as their importance to London and the country as a whole.
Today, I am really pleased to be taking on the role of chair of the G15. I am very aware that I do so at a critical time, with many important issues on the agenda.
From making sure the communities we are part of are supported to recover from the pandemic, to delivering more new homes, and addressing the twin challenges of the building safety crisis and the climate emergency, there is a great deal to be getting stuck into.
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The organisations that make up the G15 have been at the heart of London life for decades. My organisation, Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing, was founded to provide better homes for members of the Windrush Generation in 1950s London.
However, many members also operate across the country too, meaning we are well placed to help contribute to meeting the important challenges that lie ahead and that so many in our sector are working hard to resolve.
I want to use my time as chair to work with colleagues across the G15’s members, and beyond, to take advantage of the great opportunities we have to work together.
By doing so, we can learn from each other to continuously improve the services and support we offer our residents. It also means we can be dynamic and more diverse organisations that come up with solutions to the challenges in front of us, working with all levels of government to do so.
Despite the impact of the pandemic, in the past year G15 members started construction on almost 11,000 homes. We also completed more than 11,000 new homes. Over the next 10 years, we are set to build around 120,000 affordable homes in London and the South East alone.
This means we are key a partner to local, regional and national government in achieving our shared ambition to tackle the housing crisis where it is most pressing. We are also investing hundreds of millions of pounds in our existing homes, as everyone deserves a home that is safe, warm and dry.
The past two years have been remarkably challenging for the housing sector, and also for many of our residents. In the face of the pandemic, I found great support and a shared commitment to tackle the issues facing us and our communities amongst the G15, and especially from Helen Evans, who has been chair for the past two years.
Her leadership throughout the pandemic was critical in allowing members to share insight and respond quickly to support our residents, and I want to thank her for all she has done.
“Yes, we are large organisations – which brings the benefit of scale and influence – but we are also part of thousands of local communities”
Our role, and that of many housing associations up and down the country, in the response to the pandemic has shown that our connections with communities run deep.
Yes, we are large organisations – which brings the benefit of scale and influence – but we are also part of thousands of local communities, with our frontline colleagues making a huge difference every day to countless numbers of people.
This connection, and what we have seen over the past year, has made our desire to see a stronger and fairer London emerge from the pandemic become even stronger. This is not only critical for the capital, but also for the wider country, as a thriving London is the only sustainable route to achieving a levelled-up nation.
Along with the G15’s members, I am committed to ensuring we play our part in achieving the ambitions our sector has to support more people to live well. I can’t wait to get started.
Geeta Nanda, chief executive MTVH and chair, G15
