Social

In the following section, we will demonstrate how we are making a positive and measurable social impact on our customers and communities

Our relationship with our customers goes beyond landlord and tenant. It’s a relationship we have fostered over many years, based on trust and insight into multiple aspects of customers’ lives. This puts us in a strong position to provide them with the tailored support they need.

To make sure we’re providing the right support, we launched a new approach to our placeshaping work in early 2023, called Fair Foundations. The Fair Foundations approach recognises that alleviating poverty and supporting people in crisis is vital. But ultimately, it’s a sticking plaster that needs to be replaced time and again. Our response is to try and strengthen the foundations of peoples’ lives.

For example, while we continue to issue food crisis vouchers to customers who need them, we are also offering place-based targeted support into employment and free holiday clubs for children which will give people the foundations to grow and ultimately strengthen their residual household income (RHI). RHI is the amount of income households have after tax and basics including housing, transport and utilities are deducted.

Using RHI as a baseline metric sits at the heart of the Fair Foundations approach as it provides context as to how well the local ‘foundational economy’ is serving those who need it. For example, transport or childcare costs can have disproportionate impacts on household budgets depending on where you live and the work you do.

The affordability checks conducted by our pre-tenancy teams tell us how much RHI customers will have after outgoings such as rent, travel, income tax, and tv licence, and in the coming year we will be carrying out further analysis on those who present with ‘low RHI’. This analysis will help us develop more effective customer segmentation and customer journeys as well as providing insight into local economic trends and housing need.

We hope the following section will show the growing positive impact we have had on our customers and communities in 2022/23.