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Housing Day 2019: communities work best when people are empowered
As the sector celebrates Housing Day, Kate Reynolds explains why this year’s theme of community investment is crucial to creating great places to live.
Housing Day celebrates the positive impact of social housing across the country. And the theme this year – community investment – is one that links strongly with our mission and charitable social purpose.
Community investment gives us the opportunity to be the change we want to see in society.
It goes beyond the day-to-day work of housing management and is a tool to empower communities, amplify their voices and – sometimes in a small way, sometimes a big way – change lives.
Creating change that helps communities in a good way doesn’t always mean hard cash, it’s often a little that goes a long way with local people working together to make incredible things happen.
We use an asset-based approach, harnessing the will and skill of people whose unique contributions make the community what it is, so that together we can create long-term sustainable change.
“Creating change that helps communities in a good way doesn’t always mean hard cash”
We fund projects and ideas that work with us in this way and find local providers – the local experts that know the community and invest in it themselves, financially and/or voluntary. We help communities find the good things and build on these to maximise the potential and all together we are making a difference.
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The Crafty Fox cafe on the Foxhole estate in Paignton is a striking example. Community builder, Nina, trudged the streets, knocking on doors to ask what people wanted for the area.
The local pub had closed, and residents missed having somewhere to go.
We helped them set up a cafe, which is run by volunteers, and now it is a thriving hub where people can always find a friendly face and someone to spend time with. Building relationships and regular contact with neighbours helps people come together, connect and make friends, all of which creates community strength.
Through the community organising activity in this neighbourhood local people discovered their skills and gained confidence to self-organise resulting in this fantastic community resource.
This is what we’ve done with Noble Art Boxing Club in Nitshill, Glasgow. We joined residents and asked, “what’s good about living here? what could be better?”.
Watch a video about the Noble Art Boxing Club:
The overwhelming response was that people loved the local boxing club. Building on the strength of that asset, we helped the club gain security through its lease, and enabled it to become a community hub where kids can go in the summer holidays, where they can eat lunch and make friends.
Communities work best when people are empowered rather than ‘done to’ and existing assets are built on; Housing Day gives us all the opportunity to reflect on how critical community investment is to creating great places and helping us be the change we want to see.
Kate Reynolds, group head of external affairs, Sanctuary
#IHchat programme on Housing Day 2019
Tuesday 8 October is #HousingDay and Inside Housing is hosting a whole day of live Twitter Q&As with senior sector figures, including a live video conversation with Alison Inman and David Orr.
Tweet your questions to the panellists using the hashtag #IHchat at the times below:
8am – 8.45am: An introduction to #HousingDay
Leslie Channon, housing consultant and #HousingDay organiser – @LeslieChannon
Barry Malki, housing consultant – @barrybehaved
Chair: Carl Brown
9am – 9.45am: The next 100 years of council housing
Dominic Beck, cabinet member for housing, Rotherham Council - @Dominic_E_Beck
Emma Lindley, housing strategy lead, Ashfield District Council – @Emma_Lindley
Paul Smith, cabinet member for housing, Bristol City Council – @BristolPaul
David Renard, chair of the economy, environment, housing and transport board, Local Government Association – @CllrDavidRenard
Chair: Nathaniel Barker
10am – 10.45am: Providing the right homes in the right places
Alan Brunt, chief executive, Bron Afon Community Housing – @albrunt
Sheron Carter, chief executive, Habinteg Housing Association – @CarterSheron
Paul Hackett, chief executive, Optivo – @PaulHackett10
Tracy Harrison, chief executive, Northern Housing Consortium – @tjharrison1
Amy Nettleton, assistant development director – sales and marketing, Aster Group – @amynettleton1
Chair: Jack Simpson
11am – 11.45am: In conversation with Kate Henderson
Kate Henderson, chief executive, National Housing Federation – @KateNHF
Chair: Peter Apps
12am – 12.45pm: How can we tell a better story about social housing?
Victoria Dingle, tenant non-executive director, Soha Housing – @Victoria_Dingle
Steve Hayes, head of communications, Citizen – @SteveH_Citizen
Paul Taylor, innovation coach, Bromford – @PaulBromford
Boris Worrall, chief executive, Rooftop Housing – @BorisJWorrall
Chair: Carl Brown
1pm – 1.45pm: The homelessness and rough sleeping crisis
Faye Greaves, practice and policy officer, Chartered Institute of Housing – @FayeGreavesCIH
David Bogle, chief executive, Hightown Housing Association – @David_Bogle
Chair: Lucie Heath
2pm – 2.45pm: The regulatory landscape
Jonathan Walters, deputy chief executive, Regulator of Social Housing –@JonathanW_RSH
Jenny Osbourne, chief executive, Tpas – @TPASJenny
Steve Douglas, group chief executive, Aquila Services Group – @Steve_Altair
Chair: Gavriel Hollander
3.15pm - 4pm: IH Live video chat - the future role of social housing
Alison Inman, board member, Colne Housing, Saffron Housing and Tpas – @Alison_Inman
David Orr, chair, Clarion – @DavidOrrCBE
Chair: Nathaniel Barker
