Our people
Our customers and teams are the heart of our organisation, and we value the diverse and inspirational people we work with.
This section of the Annual Review is a celebration of our people, and shares stories from across our services and neighbourhoods.
Jump to section…
- Stories and updates: introducing you to some of our people and teams
- Diversity and belonging: how we’re listening, learning, and improving our services
- Leadership: meet our Customer Scrutiny Panel and our Board.
1. Stories and updates
Here’s what some of our people have been up to over the last 12 months. We’ve chosen some examples of how we’ve worked with our teams, customers and partners to fulfil our purpose.
Moments of Joy
Our Moments of Joy programme has offered free sessions in ceramics, songwriting, poetry, storytelling and local histories, film, drama, gardening, dance and more at our extra-care schemes and supported housing. Customers have told us that Moments of Joy is important to them because it increases feelings of wellbeing and connection, and because they value the art they create.
We’ve also worked with our customers to understand more about the activities they’d like to take part in, and what they want to get out of the sessions. Over 100 customers attended at least one of the 78 Moments of Joy sessions at our extra-care homes this year.
Thank you to our customers, the artists, funders, and our teams for taking part in and supporting these activities.
Changing Futures
Changing Futures supports people with experience of multiple disadvantage to improve services and systems in Sheffield. The programme creates opportunities for people to share their experiences and feedback with local organisations, and to develop new skills and ideas.
“People with lived experience can make a difference to the service, the organisation, and the world.”
Poppy, one of our Peer Support Workers, shared more about Changing Futures for her Orwell Prize for reporting homelessness submission. Thank you to Poppy for such a generous and candid insight into your role and experiences.
Positive Activities
Changing Futures’ Positive Activities supports organisations to offer opportunities for people experiencing multiple disadvantage. This includes regular events, groups or clubs that create a supportive environment for adults to flourish, and to feel safe, supported, and better able to face the challenges of recovery. People in the recovery community have helped us to ensure that there’s diverse, meaningful and accessible range of opportunities on offer.
13 organisations have received full Positive Activities funding, and four organisations have received microgrants to help them get started on offering positive activities. They’ve delivered over 50 different activities since April 2023!
We’ll continue to offer the activities until December, and complete peer evaluation with our Changing Futures Associates. We’ll continue to support our Positive Activities partners, and hope to acquire funding to continue the programme next year. A huge thank you to our partners, participants, and to everyone that’s contributed to co-designing and evaluating our Positive Activities.
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have taken part in free positive activities across Sheffield.
Ending homelessness
Homewards is an initiative led by the Royal Foundation that aims to end homelessness. This year, we’re proud to have been involved in shaping Sheffield’s local action plan, and our colleagues and customers have shared more about our work, priorities, and their lived experience. We even attended an event with Prince William earlier this year – find out more on the Homewards website.
Additionally, our Housing First services continue to offer a home and personalised, trauma-informed support to people experiencing homelessness. We provide Housing First services in Rotherham and Chesterfield, and our tenancy sustainment rates compare well to national Housing First pilots (which are around 80-88%). We’re pleased that we’re supporting people to stay and settle in their home.
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tenancy sustainment in Rotherham
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tenancy sustainment in Chesterfield
Indigo Project – an update from Katie Jewitt, Project Lead
“I joined the Indigo Rotherham and Barnsley projects as Project Lead in March 2024. I feel very privileged to be part of such a successful and dedicated service that is very much needed in the community. Indigo Project supports people who are sleeping rough to fulfil their aspirations to move on to independent living.
These projects give customers a fresh start and a chance to improve their wellbeing and develop new skills, with support to overcome any challenges they may face along the way.
It is amazing to see the dedication, hard work and determination of the key workers, and very rewarding seeing customers move on to and settle in their new home. Thank you to our brilliant local partners, and to Homes England for funding the programme.”
Starts at Home
Starts at Home Day is a celebration of supported housing. The National Housing Federation created the day to show the positive impact of supported housing, and how it is a valuable part of our housing, health and social care systems. This year, we shared more about Burns and Browning Court and how we support people with long-term mental health conditions.
We know that offering a safe and secure home – along with opportunities to connect, learn and recover – helps people to flourish and achieve their goals. A huge thanks to the teams, partners and customers that shared more about the services for Starts at Home Day – it’s been brilliant to highlight your work and achievements.
Read the article
Work and wellbeing
Our Good Work team have continued to support people across South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw to find, stay and thrive in employment.
From June 2023 to June 2024, our Good Work customers achieved…
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The high standard of our Individual Placement Support (IPS) for people with a mental health condition has been recognised by achieving the ‘Quality Mark’ in Doncaster and Sheffield and ‘Good Fidelity’ in Barnsley, as awarded by IPS Grow.
The quality of our Good Work Skills programme was recognised by being rated ‘Good’ by Ofsted, following a three-day inspection in May. As part of the inspection, we collected feedback from our learners – here’s what one of our brilliant customers shared:
Read the full report on the Ofsted website.
Good Work has also been awarded three new contracts, including a programme testing the effectiveness of IPS for people experiencing homelessness. Thank you to our customers, funders and partners for your continued support.
Taking part in Good Work
If you or someone you know would like personalised support to find or stay in work, you can find out more on the Good Work website or get in touch with the team by calling 0114 2900 218 or email goodwork@syha.co.uk
2. Diversity and belonging
We aim to offer more inclusive and diverse services, and make positive changes in the spaces we work in. We’ve created opportunities to learn from each other, and provided platforms for people to share more about their experiences and ambitions.
“They really get the best out of you!”
Leigh, one of our Peer Support Workers, shares more about our recruitment process and how it enabled him to share his skills, ambitions and experiences. He also explains more about the value of having people with lived experience on our teams.
Refugee Week event
We hosted an event for our employees, customers and partners to reflect on this year’s Refugee Week theme: Our Home.
Our speakers – Victor, Mo, Gaynor, Anna and Safiya – shared more about how we can create welcoming, safe and inclusive communities. We learned about people’s lived experience of seeking sanctuary, and how local services can support people to settle in their new home.
We also discussed how to help people build positive relationships in their new community, and the responsibility of landlords to ensure that homes are safe and tenants are supported to report any issues.
Miles for Refugees
Miles for Refugees is an initiative that we’ve been proud to support over the last few years. Over 30 days you cover a set number of miles to stand in solidarity with refugees, and raise money for the British Red Cross along the way.
This year, a team from South Yorkshire Housing Association collectively completed 800+ miles and raised over £1,000.
Women championing women
On International Women’s Day, we welcomed Beatrice Uwadiale-Odigie from Life After Crisis, Poppy Barnes and Justine Adams from Changing Futures, and Katie Chubb from Housing First Rotherham to share more about their experiences of creating better services for women. It was a great opportunity to learn about different approaches to offering support, and to both celebrate women and recognise the inequalities they face.
We’re also very grateful to H from Changing Futures and the team at Project 6 for helping us to display a fantastic PhotoVoice exhibition created by women in recovery from addiction.
Race Action Plan
Our Race Action Plan describes our organisation’s commitment to tackling structural inequality, and to creating a diverse and inclusive organisation for our customers, colleagues and partners.
Some of the stories we’ve already shared in our Annual Review show how we’re continuing to meet these commitments. For example, we’ve collaborated with and learned from racially and ethnically diverse communities at our Refugee Week event and through our Positive Activities fund. Here’s some more highlights from the progress we’ve made this year.
- We engaged with 25% of our racially and ethnically diverse colleagues to better understand the organisational barriers to succession into management roles, and to outline possible solutions.
- We’ve added a new diversity report to the Board reporting cycle, which will be presented alongside our gender pay gap data.
- We’ve reviewed our procurement requirements to ensure that we partner with organisations that share a similar commitment to being anti-racist.
3. Leadership
Our board
This year, we’ve welcomed new people to join our board. Our new and longer-standing members collectively bring a diverse range of talents and insight to our organisation. This includes experience as a social housing tenant, and leadership roles in the health, finance and housing sectors.
The board are leading the development of our new strategy, supporting us to improve our governance and financial viability, and working with us to create a clear vision for the future of South Yorkshire Housing Association.
Pam Hankinson is now our board member responsible for complaints. She supports us to use learning from complaints to improve ways of working and the services we offer our customers.
Careers and opportunities
For National Careers’ Week, we spoke to some of our employees about their achievements and progression at South Yorkshire Housing Association. Here’s Edward talking about his role. You can view all our latest vacancies here.
Customer Scrutiny Panel
Our Customer Scrutiny Panel have continued to offer valuable insight and support to improve our services. Most recently, they looked at the standards of our void (empty) homes when they are let to new customers. The Customer Scrutiny Panel explored the current voids and lettings process, and established a research question and outcome for their project. They then spent time talking to our customers about their experiences, and share their findings with our teams.
Read their latest report
90% of the customers they surveyed said they were satisfied with how clean their new home was, but the report shows that the standards of cleanliness, decoration and maintenance can vary. We are making good progress on completing an action plan from the Customer Scrutiny Panel’s recommendations, and looking forward to working with them on their next project – looking at our website and online customer services.
Final section – A message from Matt Harrison
