Our Corporate Strategy

This is where you can find information about our Corporate Strategy, which sets out our ambitions and shapes all our activities for 2022-2025. Whilst this strategy covers our specific commitments for the next three years, it has been designed to support customers throughout a lifetime in our homes.

Message from Chair and CEO

How we make a difference

Helping transform the lives of our customers and communities

We’re a local housing association that’s proud to provide affordable homes to help tackle the housing shortage in the east of England. We own and manage over 11,700 homes and serve over 27,000 customers.

We know how important it is that our homes are warm, safe and comfortable to live in, but we also do more than just provide housing. We offer a range of support and services for customers when they need them, such as personal welfare benefits advice and help with getting into employment. Because we're a not-for-profit organisation, we reinvest our surpluses to build more homes and support local communities, for example, by improving their skills and wellbeing.

We want to help transform lives by creating great homes and communities for everyone. To achieve this, everything we do is guided by our values. We care about our customers and communities, and we’re determined to make a difference. We’re bold and open-minded in our pursuit of solutions.

Changing landscape

The external environment

A lot has changed in the last three years. We’ve faced significant challenges as a business, an industry, and the UK as a whole. This includes the impact of leaving the European Union, the coronavirus pandemic, and Government reform in the shape of the Social Housing White Paper that followed the tragedy at Grenfell.

These events have served as a reminder of how central a home is to safety and wellbeing and how quickly people can move from being financially stable to struggling.

The cost of living has increased, and energy bills continue to rise. For people already on a tight budget, this forces difficult choices and puts even more strain on day-to-day living.

The demand for affordable housing continues to outweigh supply and there are over 30,000 households in need of a rented home or are registered for shared ownership in our area. On top of this there’s a growing shortage of skilled labour in the construction sector and global supply challenges.

Whilst we try to address these issues, including by working with others who share our passion, we also have an important role to play in the UK reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050. We must act now in the fight against climate change and do what we can to help with further environmental action.

Against this background, it’s vital our Corporate Strategy sets the right course for our customers and communities.

Our consultation process

Aligning our priorities with yours

This strategy has been developed in consultation with our stakeholders. We asked customers, employees, local authority officials, councillors and MPs to get involved to make this your strategy. We wanted as many of you as possible to have your say so we could make sure our priorities are in line with what’s important to you and the area you live in.

We're delighted that 1,500 of you shared your views through surveys and online discussions, informing the shaping of this strategy.

  • It was a great opportunity to be part of the Corporate Strategy consultation. It was quick and easy through the online survey and really insightful to be part of the online discussion with other residents and CHP.

    “It’s reassuring to hear that sustainability and environmental issues are being taken seriously and that new houses are being built with space in mind. Myself and other residents would like to see more disabled housing available and adaptations, plus houses for larger families in mind going forward. We think there should be more collaboration with other services so that other organisations can bring their expertise together to get housing right for future generations.

    Caroline Teplizki - CHP customer and Customer Review Panel member

Our objectives

We have six strategic objectives for the next three years that will help us to achieve our mission of transforming lives. You can read our commitments for each objective below.

Corp strat - delighting customers

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We’ll listen and learn from customers, anticipate their needs and improve our service delivery

Delighting customers

Corp strat - delighting customers

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We’ll invest in existing homes to make sure they’re well-maintained, energy-efficient and safe.

Safe and well-maintained homes

Corp strat - More great new homes

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We’ll collaborate with partners to provide new, greener homes and more homes for social rent.

More great new homes

Corp strat - Great place to work

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We’ll create a trusting and inclusive environment that values employee feedback, to attract and retain talent and help all employees grow.

Great place to work

Corp strat - Smart ways of working

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We’ll use data and technology to improve services, prioritising what helps us perform better and makes the most difference.

Smart ways of working

Corp strat - More great new homes

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We’ll make the most of every pound we spend for customers and communities and collaborate with partners to make a positive social impact.

Strong growing business

How we do things

Supporting the delivery of our six objectives

Our plans are ambitious. But we believe they’re achievable because of what underpins the way we work and how we continually look for ways to improve.

We’re an organisation that wants to help people make the most of their lives. Everything we do is guided and driven by our values of bold, caring, determined and open-minded. These are fundamental to how we work, whatever role we do.

We’re focused on making improvements for people and the planet and have chosen to be an early adopter of the Sustainability Reporting Standard for Social Housing. This is a sector-leading commitment which puts us at the forefront of sustainable best practice and means we’ll report on our Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) performance annually.

We’re dedicated to fostering diversity, equity and inclusion within our organisation and the communities we serve. We believe every voice is important and that everyone should have the opportunity to thrive.

We’re committed to fulfilling our promises and doing what we say when we said we’d do it. We know how important it is that the people we serve trust us.

The shortage of affordable homes, welfare challenges and high cost of living customers face, mean we must make sure every pound we spend is used in the best way possible. This is our approach to providing value for money and helps us to make sure we get as much social value as we can from our resources and assets.

Corporate Strategy summary