What is sustainability and why does it matter?
Sustainability is about meeting our present needs while trying to ensure that future generations can do the same. It means improving life today without closing the door on tomorrow.
For many of us, sustainability brings protecting the environment to mind – making sure our water supply is plentiful and clean into the future, for example.
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Creating a sustainable future is part of every decision we make
Sustainability also refers to social equity, examples include fairness, safety, health and well-being – and economic prosperity which includes accessible jobs, good wages and successful businesses. Effective social equity and economic prosperity should result in us having opportunities to improve our lives, and those of our children.
As a housing association, we have responsibilities across all these areas because:
We build and maintain homes
The construction industry has the third biggest environmental impact, behind energy and transport – and across 20,000 homes, a huge amount of energy is used. This means we’re focused on building and improving homes in a way that minimises environmental impact and ensure you live in a safe, quality home.
For example, new homes at Fen Drayton were built to Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) B and A efficiency using modern technologies such as air-source heat pumps and solar panels. And we’re on track to have all homes at EPC Band C or above by 2030. For older homes that is done through improvement works such as insulation upgrades.
We provide affordable housing
Our role is to ensure that local people can access quality homes and are not priced out of their area. We measure this by comparing rents to the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) and the private sector. To support any customers going through difficulties, we have a Money Advice Team, plus a Tenancy Sustainment service for customers whose tenancies are at risk of failure.
We have a focus on building communities
Our Community Engagement Team, with the help of local partners, uses hubs, drop-ins and local events to offer eating and nutrition support, wellbeing and fitness activities, smoking cessation programmes, food bank coordination, domestic abuse support, and digital inclusion support.
We employ 600 people
Fair pay, professional, mental health support and an inclusive culture, create the foundation for our service delivery to you – and we use the annual Great Place to Work survey get feedback that we can act on. You can find out more about working with bpha here.
How do we make sure we’re on track to build a sustainable future?
Creating a sustainable future is one of the four strategic commitments that make up our corporate strategy 2024-2029, so it’s part of every decision we make.
We produce an annual report written in line with the Sustainability Reporting Standard, a voluntary reporting framework for housing associations. It covers areas including affordability, safety standards, climate change, staff wellbeing, building safety and quality, and keeping communities safe. The framework helps us report in a transparent, consistent and comparable way.
You can read the report here – and if you have any views on what you’ve read, please let us know here.
