Everyone at JRHT is responsible for being inclusive. We encourage residents and tenants to be inclusive.
Our vision is to strive to be a housing association that is sustainable and engaging, providing high quality and continuously improving services and decent affordable homes in well managed communities prioritising those in greatest need.
Our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) strategy was developed with input from colleagues and residents through surveys and conversations. The purpose was to find out more about Joseph Rowntree Housing Trusts current approach towards EDI and anti-racism and understand future aspirations.
What are we aiming for?
Decent affordable homes and well managed communities
We are committed to providing homes that are genuinely affordable and meet high quality standards. We also want to ensure that residents feel part of well-managed and welcoming communities. We will do this by:
- prioritising those in greatest need
- considering where, what, and how we build and the organisations we get to build for us
- having accessible offices and community spaces.
High quality, continuously improving services
We’re committed to delivering high-quality, accessible services that meet the needs of all our residents. We want everyone to feel included, supported, and to have a great experience with us. We will do this by:
- providing inclusive services, treating people with respect
- creating an excellent experience for residents, tenants and communities
- being an inclusive and welcoming organisation
- actively challenging discrimination.
A sustainable and engaging organisation
We aim to be a well-run, sustainable organisation that listens, communicates openly, and uses resources wisely to deliver the best outcomes for residents and staff. We will do this by:
- supporting a voice and influence for all residents and staff that reflects a collaborative approach
- listening, valuing, and recognising everyone’s skills and working in partnership with others.
To help achieve these aims, we will:
- embed our values of trust, care and making a difference
- use data and insight to understand and improve
- provide education, learning opportunities and raise awareness
- work with and learn from external organisations, internal good practice, and listen to communities.
To support the work, we need to take an approach which considers a range of areas. This includes residents, staff, governance, policies and approaches.
What this looks like in practice
Some examples of things we’ll do to achieve these aims are:
- consider where, what and how we build, as well as the organisations we get to build for us
- provide inclusive and welcoming services, treating people with respect
- develop a clear approach to accessible communications, including Easy Read and language support
- increase diversity and representation of staff at all levels, this includes retaining and developing existing staff
- involve residents and tenants in decision making including through the Tenant board members and the Residents Assembly.
How do we know we are achieving the strategy?
It is important that we learn and reflect on how we are doing in the strategy. Methods to measure the strategy include through both numbers (quantitative) and personal experiences and stories (qualitative) information. For example:
- tenant satisfaction measure results
- staff surveys.
What are our timings?
We will use data and insight to review how we are doing and update the strategy regularly. 2025 is a foundation period where we will build on existing work. We need to do this first and recognise it may take a while to become a sector leader.
The future
Our longer term goals will be even more ambitious. We want to:
- fully embed EDI in everything we do
- do a larger review of the EDI strategy and decide what to do next to work towards achieving our longer-term aim of becoming a sector leader
- become a sector leader, recognised for our values and practices.