Creating thriving communities

Our social purpose is at the heart of everything we do. We invest our profits to provide new affordable homes, training and employment support and community projects.

We continue to run our Worksmart training and employment referral service as well as promote opportunities for residents through our website, such as vacancies with our contractors and career development courses.

Our Welfare Advice Team also help residents who are affected by benefit changes or changes to their financial circumstances. This year they’ve helped people to claim over £2.1million in benefits.

£2.1m

recovered in unclaimed benefits by our Welfare Advice team

1,160

successful welfare calls to residents (vulnerable contact project at start of first lockdown)

63

iPads donated to residents in older persons schemes

£4,817

raised for London and Herts Air Ambulance

This year many residents experienced changes in their circumstances that affected their household income. In December 2020, we set up a charitable fund for residents who may be experiencing financial difficulties. Through the fund, we’ve been able to help 250 residents with food vouchers, essential furniture for the home and covering utility bills.

Supporting our communities

As a charitable organisation, we do more than provide and manage homes. We invest in our communities to support residents and other local people to meet their aspirations and fulfil their potential.

In our local communities, we’ve:

  • donated 63 iPads to residents in our older persons schemes to support them with accessing digital communications channels
  • offered support to resident associations and groups
  • held resident surgeries across our Hertford & Outer London Regions with our colleagues on hand to resolve issues. Over 70 residents registered for an appointment and those who attended rated the surgeries 4.8/5 for overall experience
  • worked with community ambassadors to improve their neighbourhoods.

In our wider community, we raised £4,817 through fundraising events for our charity of the year, London Air Ambulance, and Essex and Herts Air Ambulance and donated £500 to our local youth partnerships group to provide summer activities for young people in Hertford, Ware and Bishop’s Stortford.

In the spotlight: keeping in touch with vulnerable residents

In April 2020, we wanted to check in with vulnerable residents and residents who were over 70 to find out if they needed any support to manage during the pandemic. We trained volunteer colleagues to get in touch with residents to have a chat and provide them with any information or access to services they may need.

We spoke with over 1,160 residents and we wrote to the people we were not able to reach by phone. The purpose of the contact was to see if they needed:

  • Welfare Advice
  • Help from our Network Cares Charitable Fund
  • Information about local services that could support them with everyday activities such as shopping, feelings of isolation or a decline in their mental health.

Many of the residents we spoke with were protected and cared for by their families during the Covid-19 crisis. However, some of our residents were feeling isolated, didn’t have families living locally and needed our help and support. We referred:

  • 57 residents to other agencies who could support them including, Herts Help, Foodbanks and Age UK
  • 92 residents to our Welfare, Neighbourhood and Income Teams
  • 10 residents to our Charitable Fund for financial support.