Metropolitan Thames Valley

We are delighted to have partnered with Partnership for Young London, The Hyde Group and Clarion Housing Group along with our peer researchers to to review where young people’s needs, voices and leadership can be embedded across our services as part of the Young Residents in Partnership project. The final report of the project: Shaping Housing Futures: young residents using peer research in housing to make the invisible visible has now been published and has found that: - 76% of young residents living in a housing association property say they have little say or no say at all in decisions made in their living situation (with regard to housing) - Two third (66%) of young residents would like to be involved in topics such as youth leadership and decision-making in housing - 72% of young people mention “Being able to afford a home” to be their top worry when having a home in the future To respond to these challenges, the report makes a series of recommendations to integrate youth voices and leadership into structures that can influence policy and practice across housing associations. These include: - Define young people as a separate stakeholder into housing policy with specific procedures in place - Create a youth voice representation structure that is integrated in decision-making processes at every level of organisation - Housing Associations should use their platforms to influence the wider housing sector to embed youth voice across their structures The report will be the foundation for the next phase of the Young Residents in Partnership project. This will involve six peer researchers, all young residents of MTVH, Clarion and Hyde, working together with the housing sector on how young residents can be featured in housing policy and practice. You can read the full report here: https://lnkd.in/e4EEwCha

A massive well done to our colleagues who completed the first fundraising challenge in support of the Molly Huggins Foundation by reaching the summit of Yr Wyddfa / Snowdon over the weekend, raising £1,990 against their target of £1,500. You can still donate here: https://lnkd.in/eE_Vbq7e Launched in July 2024, the Foundation represents a new era for MTVH's community impact activities, aiming to invest £75m over the next decade in tackling food insecurity, debt issues, skills gaps, educational needs, health and wellbeing and breaking down the barriers that hold communities back. The Molly Huggins Foundation will have full charitable status which will provide access to a wider range of donors and funding sources allowing MTVH to achieve more positive outcomes for residents and communities. Good luck to Kush and his family when they take on the challenge this weekend!

On 23rd September, our Executive Director for Customer Services, Kush Rawal, took part in Building Relations PR's podcast exploring how the housing sector has been navigating decreasing demand for Section 106 homes. In his remarks, Kush spoke about how, despite there being a real appetite across the sector to take on Section 106 agreements, decisions are often impacted by the continuing challenges presented by our commitments to existing homes. You can listen to the full podcast here: https://lnkd.in/e_n_wTxA

At Wednesday's visit Amber House, Bracknell, our Chief Executive, Melbourne Barrett, caught up with Donnah Whittaker to discuss her role as the Estate Coordinator for the scheme. You can view their discussion via the video below.

We were delighted to welcome the newly elected MP for Bracknell, Peter Swallow, and Bracknell Forest Council's Town Centre & The Parks Ward Councillor, Megan Wright to our award winning scheme at Amber House, Bracknell yesterday. Amber House is a one of So Resi's newest developments consisting of 126 one and two bedroom homes for shared ownership and 67 one and two bedroom homes for social rent. The scheme was developed in partnership with Hill Partnerships. Peter and Megan joined MTVH colleagues for a tour of the scheme and to discuss how we are helping to meet Bracknell's local housing needs. It clear from our meeting that Peter and Megan both understand the need for a range of tenures, both in terms of social housing and affordable homeownership, to help to address the housing crisis. We look forward to continuing our positive relationship with Peter and Megan moving forward.

We're delighted to have achieved a sustainability first amongst English housing associations by achieving the highest possible Environmental, Social and Governance rankings under the Certified Sustainable Housing Label (CSHL). The CSHL is a pan-European externally verified accreditation created by consulting company RITTERWALD Unternehmensberatung GmbH measuring housing providers' sustainability performance and credentials across all three dimensions of ESG and provides rankings against the market. This year, we improved our performance by securing the highest ranking of ‘Frontrunner’ for the Environmental dimension, up from ‘Ambassador’ in 2023. The Frontrunner rankings for Social and Governance dimensions were also maintained. Securing Frontrunner for Environmental performance follows our success in the past year in decarbonising our housing stock, and investing in large scale District Heat Network (DHN) schemes, such as at our flagship regeneration project at Clapham Park in south London. In September, the Clapham Park DHN received £3.7m in funding from the Government’s Green Heat Network Fund (GHNF) to support the decarbonisation of the existing district heat network serving 569 homes. This is the first step in a plan to connect a further 3,347 homes and 16 commercial customers to a low carbon DHN at Clapham Park by the time the regeneration is completed in 2035. The Frontrunner ranking reflects our progress in improving the energy efficiency of our homes. An additional 1,300 homes were upgraded to EPC C or better in the past year, taking the total of EPC C or better homes to 23,268, representing 78.9% of all properties with certificates. Upgrades such as cavity wall and loft insulation, high retention storage heaters and solar PV panels are not only making homes more energy efficient but also improving warmth and affordability for residents.   Thank you to Ad Hereijgers of RITTERWALD Unternehmensberatung GmbH who presented our Chief Executive, Melbourne Barrett, Director of Corporate Finance, Donald McKenzie and Senior Sustainability & Supplier Engagement Manager, Adam Bevan, with our certificate.

We’re delighted that our flagship regeneration project at Clapham Park has been awarded the 'Best Regeneration Project' at the 2024 Inside Housing Development Awards. Clapham Park is one of the countries largest regeneration schemes where, alongside our partners Vistry Group, we’re creating over 2,600 new homes, across 33 hectares to build a vibrant, inclusive and sustainable neighbourhoods alongside safe, secure streets, and ample public and private green spaces. The needs of residents and of the wider community are the heart of regeneration of Clapham Park. Over 50% of the 2,600 new homes will be affordable and by early 2025, we’ll have provided all existing social tenants at the estate with a new and much improved home for social rent. The awarding of 'Best Regeneration Project' is testament to the hard work and dedication of MTVH and our partners to transforming Clapham Park, helping to build a thriving, prosperous community where residents have the chance of a decent home and to live well. #mtvh #housing #communities

In his first op-ed for Housing Today our Chief Executive, Melbourne Barrett, builds on his remarks at the National Housing Federation’s #HousingCommunitySummit earlier this month to make the case to government on how housing associations are uniquely placed to ensure that the next generation of New Towns help to deliver the homes we need, become thriving communities and are great places to live.   You can read Mel’s piece here: https://lnkd.in/eAGUv7-5

We're delighted to announce that we've been shortlisted in three categories for the 2024 Inside Housing Development Awards: 🏘️Best Shared Ownership Development 🏘️Best Affordable Housing Development 🏘️Best Regeneration Project: Clapham Park Celebrating the very best of residential developments across the UK from the past year, these awards give recognition to the teams, projects and sustainable solutions that prioritise the needs of communities. We wish all the nominees the best of luck for tomorrow when the winners will be announced. #mtvh #housing #communities

Extending our heartfelt thanks to Jacqueline Gavin BEM for joining our misgendering webinar for #NationalInclusionWeek. Your insights were invaluable.Thank you for being part of this important dialogue!