Broadland Housing Group

Homes, community & support since 1963

Norfolk

New alliance aims to improve services for tenants

CEOs of Norfolk and Suffolk social housing providers in Independent East
Top row: Michael Newey (Broadland), Andrew Smith (Havebury)
Front row: Anita Jones (Freebridge), James Francis (Saffron), Wendy Evans-Hendrick (Orwell)
Logos of 5 local housing associations in Independent East

Broadland Housing has joined 4 other social housing providers in Norfolk and Suffolk to form a new informal alliance, Independent East.

Broadland has agreed to share knowledge, experience and good practice with partners Freebridge Community Housing, Havebury Housing Partnership, Orwell Housing and Saffron Housing Trust.

The aim is to support each other in delivering better services to our tenants and local communities. The new alliance will also create a collective lobbying voice for social housing in the region.

Independent East describes itself as:

…made up of independently minded, and individually sustainable, housing associations with similar and complementary values and business objectives based in Norfolk and Suffolk, which are willing to share knowledge and experience; to support each other in the delivery of our individual corporate strategies; and to explore opportunities to work better together.

Independent East manifesto

The 5 organisations will create senior management forums to explore the potential for common approaches. However, each housing association will continue to operate independently of the others.

We are very much looking forward to collaborating with our Independent East Partners over the coming months and years.

We will be working together on new projects, sharing ideas and best practices, and supporting each other to have the biggest possible impact on the communities we serve while driving innovation and change within the housing industry.

This ambitious partnership fits well with our long-term customer-focused objectives, and we are proud to be a part of it.”

Wendy Evans-Hendrick, CEO, Orwell Housing Association

Gold award for sustainability

SHIFT Gold status - Broadland Housing Association, November 2021

Broadland Housing has maintained GOLD status in the Sustainable Homes Index for Tomorrow (SHIFT) Awards 2021.

We are delighted to receive SHIFT gold accreditation once again, especially considering the challenges we have all faced due to Covid-19. Being sustainable runs through everything we do and we continually review our practices and processes to ensure they are as environmentally-friendly as possible, in addition to considering how we can also reduce our carbon footprint. This latest award reflects the hard work of our teams throughout the organisation on the journey to #NetZero.”

Louise Archer, Executive Asset Director

Broadland was first accredited with the SHIFT Gold standard in 2016, after progressing from highly commended in the first year of taking part, through Bronze and Silver SHIFT awards. We have maintained this standard ever since, and we were the highest scoring social landlord in 2016, 2018 and 2020.

What is SHIFT?

SHIFT is an independent audit system that assesses the environmental impacts of a landlord’s housing stock across 21 criteria. It is the recognised sustainability standard for the social housing sector.

Celebrating 20 years: the real Living Wage

Broadland Housing Chief Executive Michael Newey has encouraged all businesses and organisations to consider paying the real Living Wage. Speaking at the Living Wage Foundation‘s 2021 event in Norwich, he said:

The real Living Wage is part of our wider strategy to deliver high levels of staff engagement and as a result deliver a high level of commitment to our tenants and to the organisation. We are a ‘people’ business.  We provide people with homes, and our people provide our tenants with the services they require.  The quality of our employees is vital to our success. Treating people fairly and with respect is key to our culture and drives that engagement.   

Paying our employees a real Living Wage is all about us respecting our staff, ensuring that they are paid properly for the jobs they are doing. It reduces the chances that they will need to turn to benefits to look after their families, and struggle to make ends meet. 

Paying people a wage that allows them to have a reasonable standard of living shouldn’t be an optional extra for organisations whether in the public, private or third sector.   

If you can’t afford to pay people properly for the job that they do for you – if you need to ask them to apply for in-work benefits because you can’t afford to pay them a real Living Wage, then I believe that trustees, directors, executive teams and shareholders need to ask themselves some difficult questions about their business model.

Michael Newey, Chief Executive, Broadland Housing Association

Broadland Housing was first accredited as a Living Wage Employer in 2016. There are more than 300,000 people working for almost 9,000 real Living Wage Employers throughout the country.

What is the real Living Wage?

The real Living Wage rates are rising to £9.90 across the UK (40p increase), and £11.05 in London (20p increase), supporting workers and families. The Living Wage rates are the only rates independently calculated based on what people need to live on. 

Unlike the Government minimum wage (‘National Living Wage’ for over 23s – £8.91 rising to £9.50 in April 2022) the real Living Wage is the only wage rate independently calculated based on rising living costs – including fuel, energy, rent and food. A full-time worker earning the new, real Living Wage would earn £1,930 a year more than a worker earning the current government minimum (NLW). For a worker today that’s the equivalent of 7 months of food bills and more than 5 months’ rent based on average household spending in the UK.

Exciting new developments for the Living Wage campaign

Organised by Aviva plc, Norwich City Council and Future Radio, the Living Wage Week event in Norwich celebrated the historic achievements of the campaign, and the benefits for both employees and employers. There were presentations by Phoenix Events, Future Radio, Aviva and Allan Waters, Leader of the city council. There was also a look ahead to new developments – Living Hours, a Living Pension and Norwich’s plans to become a Real Living Wage City.

  

East of England Social Housing Regulator Meeting, October 2021

  • Kate Dodsworth at Regulator for Social Housing meeting at Broadland Housing Association, October 2021
  • Tenant at Regulator for Social Housing meeting at Broadland Housing Association, October 2021
  • Michael Newey at Regulator for Social Housing meeting at Broadland Housing Association, October 2021
  • Tenants at Regulator for Social Housing meeting at Broadland Housing Association, October 2021
  • Tenants' concerns at Regulator for Social Housing meeting at Broadland Housing Association, October 2021
  • Tenant at Regulator for Social Housing meeting at Broadland Housing Association, October 2021
(Top left) Kate Dodsworth, Director of Consumer Regulation, RSH, addressing tenants;
(top right) Michael Newey, Chief Executive of Broadland Housing Association;
(above) tenants participating in workshop sessions

Kate Dodsworth, Director of Consumer Regulation at the Housing Regulator, met tenants from 7 social housing providers across the eastern region at a meeting hosted by Broadland Housing in October.

The aim was to get tenants’ feedback on what is important to them and how well their landlord listens to their issues and concerns.

The meeting, organised jointly by Placeshapers and the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH), was an exciting opportunity for tenants to give their views directly to the Regulator.

Social Housing White Paper

Last year, the Government published its Social Housing White Paper. This requires RSH to change the way it carries out consumer regulation in social housing and to create a new consumer function. RSH wants to hear from social housing tenants over the next few years on a range of topics relating to this, to better understand what matters to them. This will help RSH shape how the new consumer function should work in practice.

The session at Carrow Road, Norwich, covered how regulation in the social housing sector works at the moment and the changes the White Paper is introducing, and the opportunities coming up to engage further with RSH.

Positive feedback from tenants

The day started with a joint meeting between members of Independent East (a partnership between Broadland Housing, Freebridge, Havebury, Saffron and Orwell Housing). Tenants from the housing associations learned how they could influence positive change with their landlords, share best practice and discuss the issues they face.  There were also opportunities for tenants to share their thoughts with RSH directly during workshop sessions. 

The feedback from the meeting was very positive: 93% of tenants who attended said they would like to see a new forum set up. The most popular topics for further discussion are: reviewing service standards, reviewing complaints together and training.

Tenants were also interested in attending other ad hoc workshops and seminars. This is an exciting development in the sector and we will be posting more news and developments as they happen.

Work starts on 18 new family homes at Great Hockham, Norfolk

  • Jonathan Smith, of Smiths of Honingham, with Broadland Housing Association Chief Executive Michael Newey
Left: David Childerhouse (Parish Cllr), Andrew Savage (Executive Development Director), Ben Campbell (Parish Cllr), Tom Bennett (Parish Cllr), Cllr Philip Cowen (Breckland), Michael Newey (Chief Executive, Broadland Housing Association). Right: Jonathan Smith, of Smiths of Honingham, with Michael Newey,

Broadland Housing has started work on 18 new family homes in Great Hockham. The scheme will include 8 affordable rent homes, prioritised for people with a local connection who are in housing need. There will also be 2 homes for shared ownership and 8 new open market homes. 

Councillor Philip Cowen of Breckland Council and representatives from Great Hockham Parish Council, which has supported the project, were joined by Broadland staff and contractors at the sod-turning ceremony.

The £4.2 million project on Wretham Road in the village is due to be completed in February 2023.

We are delighted to be here in Great Hockham celebrating the start of construction of 18 much-needed new homes.

We are meeting a genuine need for housing in rural village communities, which will enable local people to find homes in those communities and thus stay close to their support networks and places of employment, and make villages such as Great Hockham more sustainable.

This kind  of mixed-tenure development, with a blend of affordable homes and open-market homes, is increasingly the way forward, both because it makes such schemes financially viable, but also because it encourages a better integration within the community.

Michael Newey, Chief Executive of Broadland Housing, speaking at the ceremony

Rural communities in Breckland desperately need new housing. 

Our own housing needs survey showed that providing new homes, including affordable homes, in Great Hockham will help the village become a community hub for the surrounding villages.  This is an ‘exceptions site’ outside the current village boundaries, and as such the affordable homes will be prioritised for those with a local connection, which is important.

The way Broadland Housing has brought this project forward has been refreshing.  They brought a real level of expertise in building local communities, they communicated and listened to local people, and they have been great to work with.”

Councillor Cowen, portfolio holder for finance, revenues and benefits / local ward councillor for Great Hockham

The 18 new homes have been designed by architects Ingleton Wood, and are being constructed by contractor Smiths of Honingham.  We are grateful to Mr Trappes-Lomax, the Hockham Estate owner, for insisting on a project which will supply much needed affordable housing in the village.

We are delighted to once again be Broadland’s partner in bringing to life these new homes”

Jonathan Smith, Director, Smiths of Honingham
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