Housing Day 2020
Today (Wednesday 7 October) marks the 8th annual #HousingDay. A celebration of social housing and the important role it can play in supporting people’s lives.
This year’s theme ‘the importance of home’ is closely aligned to the recent Homes at the Heart campaign, led by the National Housing Federation.
Over the past two months Onward has joined housing providers from across the country, lobbying for a once-in-a-generation investment in social housing, showcasing our customer stories in support.
During the 8-week campaign we’ve heard from customers who’ve overcome personal struggles to get back into work, and how making old and new homes more sustainable benefits the environment and saves customers money.
We’ve also shared stories from customers who were sleeping on the streets and are now confident to go back into society, how breathing new life into a struggling community in the ‘60s is still having an impact today, and how working together we can build thriving communities.
In recent years we’ve hosted events and activities to celebrate Housing Day. We weren’t able to get together in person this year, but still marked the occasion by hosting a live virtual roundtable event that brought colleagues and customers together through MS Teams.
Facilitated by Onward’s Head of Neighbourhood Services, Andrew Lord, the roundtable group explored the importance of home and community in detail, delving into the impact of covid-19 on local communities. Participants shared their views and personal experiences of the lockdown, and discussed the key components that make up a thriving community.
As part of our Housing celebration’s we also caught up with customers Stephen and Helen from Ainsdale, who gave us insight into their community work and what home means to them.
Happy #HousingDay to all of our customers. Don’t forget to follow @housingday on Twitter for more stories on how social housing is making a real difference today.