Across all of our networks there has been a big focus on the cost of living crisis. Colleagues have wanted to discuss this and share information about problems their residents are facing, and how they are working within their organisations to meet these challenges. Within this, the biggest concerns are around the cost of food and fuel for residents, access to jobs and whether jobs are paying well, and how to target services effectively considering time and financial constraints. 

If you want to receive a copy of any of the presentations listed below or be put in touch with the speaker, please contact adam.chester@hact.org.uk 

Join our new opportunities Basecamp here 

Contact adam.chester@hact.org.uk to join Basecamp, our online collaboration space, for any of these groups.

Housing Association Youth Network

HAYN had a presentation from Suzi Griffith from Healthy London Partnerships about their pan-London effort to set up social prescribing services specifically tailored to young people. Since the meeting, HAYN members have been working together to decide where they want to collaborate around youth social prescribing and making contact with leads in those boroughs to take the collaboration forward. There is also ongoing work to update the HAYN website. 

Register for the next meeting here: 9th August 

Discussing – Youth social prescribing, website updates, work in working groups 

Northern Ireland Network – 12th May and 9th June 

The Northern Ireland network has been wrapping up a collaboration they have done on an animated video, which can be seen here. The collectively produced video will be used to prevent the emergence of anti-social behaviour in social housing schemes across Northern Ireland, and will be shown to all residents at the start of their tenancy. The video was produced in consultation with residents affected by ASB and supported by key stakeholders in Northern Ireland. The Northern Ireland network is currently deciding on its next collaborative project. 

Next meeting: 11th August

in-person at Connswater Offices, Belfast. Discussing – A potential collaboration about fuel poverty. Contact adam.chester@hact.org.uk for more information

Racial Equality Group – 24th May and 25th June

In May, the Racial Equality Group hosted an event to launch the third round of the Black History Month 365 Fund, a collaborative fund to support community groups to host events that promote black history and culture throughout the year.

In June, the REG hosted a Q&A with Marvin Rees, Mayor of Bristol. It was an excellent session and Marvin spoke candidly about his experience leading Bristol during the removal of the Edward Colston statue, what it takes to be a person of colour in leadership , and what a housing system that delivers racial equality would look like.

Midlands Housing and Employment Forum – 25th May

The MHEF focuses more directly on employment and training, so there was a discussion of the Kickstart scheme and how it has changed recruitment processes. The MHEF is also making plans for a project to map and identify gaps in employment and training provision in housing and the community and voluntary sector across the midlands. 

Next meeting: 28th September. Contact adam.chester@hact.org.uk for more information

Wales Network – 26th May 

The Wales network has been speaking about the cost of living crisis and will continue to do so. The May meeting focused on fuel poverty, with National Energy Action Wales and Warm Wales making presentations about the services and training they can provide to housing associations and the support they can provide to residents who get referred by housing associations. 

Next meeting: Date TBC.

Discussing – the cost of living crisis

Yorkshire and Humberside Network – 26th May 

The Yorkshire & Humberside network discussed lessons learned: how the pandemic has changed service delivery and how to apply these changes to the cost of living crisis, with presentations from PlaceShapers and Wakefield District Housing. Similarly, there was a presentation from Great Places about learning lessons from the Community Renewal Fund in anticipation of the Shared Prosperity Fund. There was also a presentation from Poplar Harca discussing their approach to community centres. 

Register for the next meeting: 4th August

Discussing – the cost of living crisis 

Community Centres Network – 7th June 

The community centres network met to discuss the findings from a recent collaborative report which was led by Clarion, which interviewed various members of the network to discuss ‘How do Housing Associations understand and demonstrate the impact or success of their community centres for their residents and communities?’ (link to read here) The network hopes to use the report to kickstart further collaboration. They also heard from Hyde about their approach to their community centres and one of Hyde’s community centres the Arc Centre spoke about their activity there. The network also heard an update from The Mix about their platform Share Somewhere, a UK-wide website to list and book available community centres. 

Register for the next meeting: 6th September 

Discussing – the links between community centres and health and wellbeing services.

East of England Network – 16th June 

The East of England network heard from Cambridgeshire Housing Society about the Cambridgeshire Local Assistance Scheme (CLAS), which they lead on. CLAS is a well-developed example of a local placemaking partnership involving extensive engagement with the local voluntary and community sectors. There was also a roundtable discussion about the cost of living crisis, with people giving updates on what their organisations are doing currently. 

Register for the next meeting: 8th September 

North West Network – 21st June 

At the North West network meeting, A2Dominion spoke about the Black History Month 365 Fund, to see whether organisations in the North West network want to get involved. We also hosted breakout rooms on the cost of living crisis. Major challenges included poverty, cost of food and fuel, access to jobs, how to target services effectively considering limited budget, and capacity of staff.  

Next meeting date: 20th September, registration link coming soon.

Age Friendly Network – 22nd June 

The Age Friendly network heard about the Age Friendly Social Housing Programme, a Centre-led collaboration to build local partnerships in Bradford, Southwark, and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Pool (BCP), connecting social housing to wider age friendly ecosystems. If you want to get involved in any of these areas please contact Emily.barr@hact.org.uk 

Next meeting date: 14th September

South West Network – 23rd June  

The South West network hosted a roundtable discussion led by Sovereign, to explore the South West network going forward, discuss their shared priorities and how to get value from working together. The group decided that the next steps going forward was to survey all organisations involved in the South West to find a theme to work together on. 

Next meeting date: tbc