Despite the debates about, the positive statements of support for and the constant spotlight on diversity and inclusion – how much progress has there really been? What more should and could the sector be doing? What are the stumbling blocks and the solutions?

Several years on from the Grenfell disaster and the tragic death of Awaab Ishaq, multiple Housing Ombudsman determinations and the terrible conditions of mostly black tenants highlighted by campaigner Kwajo Tweneboa have shown us that, despite good intentions, the provision of appropriate services to black and brown residents or those living with a vulnerability are often still missing.

And the emerging trends from the Tenant Satisfaction Measures  (TSMs) are supporting this view – many organisations are finding that minority groups are significantly less satisfied.

It seems clear that even when voices from marginalised groups are heard, they are not listened to, given credibility, nor, most importantly, acted upon.

The Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 and new regulatory regime puts how tenants are treated when interacting with landlords at the heart of its aims. Will this be enough to drive the change that’s needed? What needs to  happen to make a real difference?

That’s what this year’s EDI conference is all about. It will explore what needs to be done to improve practices and the service received by marginalised tenants. We’ll examine the issues from a variety of different perspectives highlighting best practice examples. We’ll look at how organisations can establish and embed a culture of listening to tenants and customers and acting upon what they say.

Fairhive Homes achieved the highest ranking Disability Confident Leader status in March 2023 becoming the first “home grown” business in Buckinghamshire to achieve this status. Over 12% of Fairhive employees have a disability. John Wallbank, Head of People Engagement, will share how Fairhive achieved this:

• Why this is so important- how is Fairhive making a difference for people with disabilities?
• Employing people with disabilities – the moral case and the business case
• Disability in the UK – there is so much to do
• What is the Disability Confident scheme and how can it help?
• What is Access to Work?

The Housing Ombudsman has raised their worries about the provision of services to residents with a vulnerability. Joanna Jeffery and Richard Seager will outline the Ombudsman’s concerns about recognising, recording and responding to residents with a vulnerability, suggest additional areas of concern and explore how social landlords can ensure that policies for providing services to residents and potential residents with a vulnerability are always put into practice.

We all know of housing organisations that are great at celebrations. Black History Month, International Women’s Day, Pride Month…the list goes on.  But behind all this, are we really making progress on diversity and inclusion? Mushtaq Khan, CEO of Housing Diversity Network looks at the stark reality. Is it all about platitudes and people being scared to say the wrong thing? Or is progress tangible and quantifiable? Mushtaq will outline HDN’s latest thinking together with their research in this area.

Reasons for coming:

• Diversity and inclusion is central to resident/tenant satisfaction, it’s about meeting the needs of all your customers including more marginalised groups
• The provision of appropriate services to tenants and residents of colour often falls short (as shown by Grenfell, the tragic death of Awaab Ishaq, and the terrible conditions of mostly black tenants highlighted by campaigner Kwajo Tweneboa). Come and hear about examples of good practice, which can help you to ensure you meet the needs of your tenants and residents of colour
• This can help to ensure that your tenants are satisfied – increasingly important in this regulatory environment
• We will be looking within our organisations as well, and how you can be a more inclusive organisation – if you are not creating an inclusive culture for your employees, it’s unlikely you will be doing so for tenants or meeting their needs
• Explore what needs to be done to improve practices and the service received by marginalised tenants

What will you get out of it? 

• Lots of practical tips and ideas for taking action in your organisation
• Hear about how to meet the needs of a wide range of different people
• Embed a culture of listening to tenants and customers and acting upon what they say
• Ways to create a more inclusive culture within the organisation which can attract a wider range of people to want to work for you

10.30 Welcome, introductions and setting the scene

• • Colin Heyman, Associate, HQN

10.50 Listening to the voice of marginalised groups

• • Nu McAdam, Consultant and Trustee, Hyde Housing Association

11.20  Platitudes and lip service: Are we serious about EDI?

• • Mushtaq Khan, Chief Executive, Housing Diversity Network

11.50 Break

12.05 Responding to residents with a vulnerability

• • Richard Seager, Associate, HQN

  • Joanna Jeffery, Associate, HQN

12.45 Lunch 

13.15 The role of BME housing providers today and delivering services to marginalised groups

• • Cym D’Souza, Retired, Previously CEO Arawak Walton and Chair of BMENational

14.00 Turning words into action: How Fairhive became a Disability Confident provider

• • John Wallbank, Assistant Director of People, Fairhive Homes Ltd

14.30 How to engage successfully with younger leaders

• • Shauna Hutchinson, People Adviser, SNG (former Network Homes)

15.00 Panel discussion

• • John Wallbank, Head of People, Fairhive Homes Ltd

  • Mushtaq Khan, Chief Executive, Housing Diversity Network

  • Nu McAdam, Consultant and Trustee, Hyde Housing Association

  • Shauna Hutchinson, People Adviser, SNG (former Network Homes)

15.30 Close

Colin Heyman, Associate, HQN

Colin Heyman has worked as a trainer, consultant and coach in equality and diversity for over 20 years, and has worked with small companies, large public sector organisations, and third sector organisations, including housing associations. Colin is the Lead Consultant for the HQN Equality, Diversity and Inclusion network. Amongst other things, Colin specialises in supporting a network of Diversity Champions to be change agents, and bring about change within their organisation, and in work on white privilege and allyship. Through his work, Colin hopes to bring about improved practice in equality and diversity, help people to realise that equality, diversity and Inclusion (EDI) permeates most of what we do, get the issues discussed and enable people to feel comfortable about debating these important issues.

Mushtaq Khan, Chief Executive, Housing Diversity Network

Mushtaq works for Housing Diversity Network, an organisation helping the housing sector become more inclusive in terms of its leadership, service provision and workforce development. He has worked for several housing and regeneration organisations throughout his career, as well as running his own consultancy business. He was previously Director of Commercial Partnerships at the Jigsaw Group as well as Director of Aksa Homes. He has also worked at a senior level in local authorities for the over fifteen years, including working for large metropolitan councils such as Oldham, Trafford and Lambeth.

Shauna Hutchinson, People Adviser, SNG (former Network Homes)

People Adviser at SNG (former Network Homes), awarded 2019 Young Leader with 11 years’ experience of customer relations used to better customer learning for service improvements, embed resident engagement and focus to strengthen trust with residents.

Richard Seager, Associate, HQN

Richard worked for the Commission for Racial Equality and the GLC’s Ethnic Minorities Unit before becoming a consultant. Since the late 1980s he has worked primarily with Joanna Jeffery providing advice and assistance to a wide range of public, private and voluntary bodies. They have also worked extensively with HQN carrying out reviews and researching and writing a number of briefing papers including the two recent ones which form the basis of their conference session.

Joanna Jeffery, Associate, HQN

Joanna worked in both Central and Local Government before becoming a consultant. Since the late 1980s she has worked primarily with Richard Seager providing advice and assistance to a wide range of public, private and voluntary bodies. They have also worked extensively with HQN carrying out reviews and researching and writing a number of briefing papers including the two recent ones which form the basis of their conference session.

John Wallbank, Assistant Director of People, Fairhive Homes Ltd

John is a Chartered Fellow with CIPD and has worked in HR for over 20 years. John worked in retail for nearly 20 years doing a variety of HR Leadership roles for both ASDA and Tesco before joining the Housing sector in 2015.

John has Type 1 diabetes, his mum had multiple sclerosis so championing the cause for people with disabilities inspires John both personally and professionally.

This is important as there is a UK disability employment gap of 29.8% where 82.5% of people without a disability are in work vs 52.6% of people in work with a disability.

Our sector can make a real difference to employ and support more people with disabilities.  John will share some top tips for how this has been achieved in Fairhive.

Nu McAdam, Consultant and Trustee, Hyde Housing Association

Nu is an accessibility consultant for their local trans lgbtq charity as well as an independent coordinator for buildings trying to make themselves more accessible. They also work as a self-employed researcher for unspoken topics regarding disability accessibility and independence. Amongst all Nu’s other projects, they are also on the customer voice board for hyde housing as a resident.

Cym D’Souza, Retired, Previously CEO Arawak Walton and Chair of BMENational

Prior to retiring in October 2023, Cym had worked in social housing for over 35 years. She became BMENational’s Chair in 2015. During this time she has lobbied tirelessly both locally, regionally and nationally to raise the discriminatory issues that face communities from Black and minority ethnic (BME) backgrounds. Firstly, through her role as CEO of Arawak Walton HA from 1998,  she established what good looks like in delivering housing and associated services to BME Communities. In addition, as Chair of BMENatoinal she has lobbied various Government Departments and policy makers in housing to create the changes necessary to ensure people from BME communities get fair and equitable access not only to housing but also to employment and Board member opportunities in housing. Through her role as a Board member of Church HA she will continue her work to ensure Equality, diversity and inclusion remains high on the social housing sector’s agenda.