Working in housing

There’s a huge shortage of affordable homes in the UK. This has led to a big increase in house prices and rents in the private rental sector. For people on low incomes this can have a knock-on effect of repossessions, evictions and homelessness. People are often left vulnerable with little or no support.

Providing homes

We’re focused on helping to meet housing need locally, whilst delivering excellent services to our customers. We’ve been providing homes for people unable to rent or buy privately since March 2002. As part of our Corporate Strategy for 2022-2025, our goal is to provide 1,500 new affordable homes.

We work to make sure the homes and neighbourhoods we own are warm, safe and affordable. But we do much more than that because we’re an organisation focused on transforming lives.

Offering support

We support customers when they’re experiencing some of life’s challenges. For example, if a customer is having money worries, we can provide personal benefits advice. If anyone that lives in the communities we serve wants to develop their work skills, or if they’re trying to find a job, we can help with that too. We also provide guidance and support if our customers are experiencing anti-social behaviour, hate crime, domestic abuse or have safeguarding concerns.

Working in partnership to support local communities

We regularly work with organisations such as Essex Police, Essex County Council, Mediation Service and National Centre of Domestic Violence to help our customers who are experiencing difficulties.

Giving people a voice

We believe that when it comes to where we live, all of us should have a say in how things are managed. It’s vital that we’re aware of our customers concerns, relating to their home or local community, so that we can start to address them. We provide a variety of ways for our customers to share their opinions and have their say.

Regulation

As well as answering to our customers, we’re also accountable to the Regulator of Social Housing. Its role is to make sure we’re properly governed, well managed and financially secure.

Innovation

We aim to provide the best service to our customers and as a result we’re always looking for ways to improve. This includes embracing new digital solutions to develop our services and to enable our team to help customers more quickly. Other examples include utilising modern methods of construction to improve the quality of our new-build homes whilst being more energy efficient and sustainable.

The housing industry can be challenging. We sometimes work with very vulnerable people who are in desperate need of help. But it’s an ideal industry for anyone wanting to make a difference through their work and offers a wide variety of opportunities for employment.