CEO Carol Carter joins board of PlaceShapers
22/06/2018
Our CEO Carol Carter has recently joined the board of PlaceShapers, a national network of community-based housing associations we’re part of.
We are one of 120 PlaceShapers members and together we have 900,000 homes for rent, low cost home-ownership, supported housing for those who are vulnerable as well as homes for sale. More than a quarter of people living in a housing association home in England live in a PlaceShapers home.
Being part of PlaceShapers is a good fit for us because we’re a community-based housing association that is driven by our social purpose and lives by our vision of great homes, positive people and strong communities. We share a number of key values, and priorities in our work, with PlaceShapers.
In the coming weeks the government will launch its social housing green paper which will become a priority for PlaceShapers to focus on. Otherwise, there are four priority areas for PlaceShapers members:
We build: We build more homes and shape our communities.
We have a 1,000 new homes in the pipeline and recently announced a joint venture partnership with UK Housebuilder Hill, which will deliver 204 new homes in Harrow. We’re pleased to be able to contribute to community regeneration in Harrow through this scheme, which will include 40% affordable homes.
We care: We care about people, so we contribute to evidence on the impact of welfare reform, and on the benefits of supported housing and health and housing integration.
We’re passionate about continuing to provide support for older people as well as those experiencing mental health problems and people with learning or physical disabilities. Across our 672 specialist homes we strive to support residents to feel safe, independent and happy by providing the care and assistance they need. In our Hillside scheme, for people with learning disabilities, we also run a range of activities like healthy cooking classes.
We work: We work promotes the various ways housing associations help people in their communities to get into work and training, proving how worthwhile this support is.
We work with partners to offer a wide range of community based projects for people of all ages, across all communities. For example our employment support service and local job hubs, based in London Boroughs of Camden and Enfield, have helped many people build their confidence and get back into work over the years. In 2017/18 we helped 45 people into work and an impressive 92% of them have stayed in their role.
We share: We share what we learn from our work, so that we can bring about positive change in collaboration with organisations or groups with common areas of interest.
We share our knowledge and good practice with our networks where we can. An example of this was when our Care and Support Team spoke at a conference on identifying and reducing homelessness, advising how we offer homes to single people who are homeless in the borough of Enfield and support services.
We’re proud to be part of a network of housing associations dedicated to shaping communities and uniting around shared values as a voice for change and we look forward to our CEO Carol Carter’s time on the PlaceShapers’ board. Carol said: ‘Now, more than ever, it is vital that we sustain our efforts to support local communities to thrive. Organisations like ours, with roots in our communities, are dedicated to providing decent affordable homes and helping to create neighbourhoods where people want to live and opportunities to make the best out of their lives.’
You can find out more about PlaceShapers here.