1st June 2020 Dear Colleagues   COVID-19 and HDN Staff Mentoring Programmes 2019-2020 and 2020-2021   I wanted to update you regarding the above.   Completion of 2019-2020 Staff Mentoring Programme    Group Workshops:  Even before the national lockdown, most organisations had introduced their own policies with regard to social distancing and restrictions on travel, so the decision was taken early on to cancel any planned face to face group sessions and move them online.  To-date, East, London and NW regions have completed all group workshops.  The Midlands, NE, Yorks. & Humberside and SW regions will complete these by 22 June 2020.     One-to-ones:  We highly recommend that mentors and mentees continue their discussions and 1 to 1s (5) using remote collaboration tools, and act in a manner consistent [...]

Yvonne Davies, HDN Associate Consultant reflects on the first 18 months of the Board Diversity Programme. Here are a few headlines from my perspective on the programme. Good Governance We work with housing associations to identify gaps in diversity at board/committees whilst also considering where natural vacancies might emerge in future years. The programme enables Boards to realise potential for diversity of thought in the boardroom and committees. This is essential to god governance. Supporting Sector Diversity A crucial part of the programme is the premise that no trainees on the Board Diversity programme are guaranteed a position on [...]

The Gender Confidence Gap – Our Next Webinar I’m Jane Atherton, Associate for Housing Diversity Network. I have worked in and around social housing for over 30 years in Organisational Development and Human Resources. For the last two years I’ve been supporting different organisations as an independent consultant. From an early age, I have been interested in issues that affect women and so I’m looking forward to hosting a webinar exploring Women at Work – the Gender Confidence Gap. Join us on our webinar the 18th May at 2pm when we’ll look at some of the research in this area, [...]

     Support Your Teams in Challenging Times With Our Mental Health and Wellbeing Workshops We’ve developed a workshop programme to support our colleagues in these unprecedented times. Staff working remotely have reported heightened levels of stress and anxiety. Feeling isolated from peers is often a contributing factor and can impact health and wellbeing. Thankfully there are skills and practical strategies we can learn that make a real difference and help us to thrive – even during a global pandemic. We are now offering mental health workshops online. As always, our training does not see mental health as ‘problem to be [...]

Mental Health and Housing Anita Birchall, HDN Associate, reflects on housing and mental health and how a single incident can have far-reaching implications. Question: How do you house someone who categorically refuses to sign the tenancy agreement because he believes you are collecting data about him to share with the government? Two things struck me about this problem when it was presented to me last year.  One is that he is right; we are collecting data about him to share with the government; and two, there is no way we can grant a tenancy without the requisite paperwork and [...]

Title of consultation: Equality Objectives Source of consultation: Regulator of Social Housing Date: 25th March 2020 HDN Response to the RSH Consultation on Equality Objectives We have responded to the Regulator for Social Housing’s consultation on its Equality Objectives. Our response sets out the key principles which we believe will fundamentally enhance and contribute to the development of regulation in the housing sector. We believe that housing organisations have an essential role in improving equality outcomes for their communities. This is not just achieved through meeting legal obligations but by working in a cohesive manner, embedding equality activity across a [...]

COVID-19 and HDN Activity 16 March 2020 The continuing spread of the COVID-19 Coronavirus is extremely concerning and, in line with other organisations, has already caused significant disruption to our activity. There is potential for further disruption in the months ahead. This update is designed to pick up some of the common questions that we have been asked in terms of HDN activity. Of course, our approach may change in light of new information or guidance. HDN Office It is business as usual and the HDN office is currently open and staffed. All staff have facilities to work from home, [...]

Title of consultation: Code of Governance Review Source of consultation: National Housing Federation Date: 9th March 2020 HDN’s Response to the NHF Code of Guidance We have responded to the National Housing Federation’s consultation on its revised Code of Guidance. Our response sets out the key principles which we believe will fundamentally enhance and contribute to the development of governance and leadership in the housing sector. We set out the case for greater diversity in board recruitment and composition as well enabling authentic diverse contributions. We believe that the rhetoric surrounding the strong case for boardroom diversity has seldom been [...]

HDN heralds new approach to harness board diversity in the housing sector A Housing Diversity Network (HDN) programme to improve board diversity through targeted role search and retention techniques has been judged a major success. HDN’s interim report highlights the positive outcomes of the first year of Advancing and Harnessing Board Diversity programme piloted with two northern housing associations – Progress Housing Group and Together Housing Group. The programme adopts a new approach to improving board diversity through creative recruitment of a cohort of potential board members from diverse backgrounds. This cohort then undergoes a two-year training and development programme [...]

National Housing Federation Summit 2019: Five Things We Learned By Mushtaq Khan I was at the National Housing Federation Summit in London last week. Here’s a few important takeaways from the two days: Nothing is going to get done in terms of housing (or any other) activity until Brexit is ‘done’. Although booked to appear, the latest new Housing Minister was unable to attend and even though we continue to hear about the housing crisis, policy pronouncements were thin on the ground. Information on what’s the future of the Race Disparity Unit, for example, isn’t at the top of the [...]