We won! Best Supported Housing Landlord.
Posted on 20 November 2023
Hot on the heels of recent award success for our mental health support, Southdown has been recognised by the national Affordable Housing Awards as the Best Supported Housing Landlord. We were also ‘highly commended’ in the coveted Landlord of the Year award category which we were shortlisted for too. (Pictured left to right: Michelle Baker, Southdown Board member with Neil Blanchard, our Chief Executive, and Sarah Murphy, our Housing & Property Services Senior Manager.)
Recognising excellence in UK Housing, the Affordable Housing Awards identify the social landlords, charities and partners, who work with their communities to deliver great outcomes for tenants and residents. The awards are designed not just to celebrate success, but to help other landlords learn from it and replicate it.
On behalf of our Executive team, Jim Aspdin, Director of Housing and Business Services, says, “Being recognised for our personalised approach and focus on partnership working to meet our tenants’ needs is fantastic recognition of the hard work of our housing management, property services and client services’ teams.
“In addition, to have our Southdown Beacon highlighted as an outstanding achievement is much deserved recognition of input from colleagues and clients from across the organisation who co-produced the framework which is designed to help recognise and respond to colleagues, tenants, and clients’ psychological needs.”
Pauline Ford, Chair of our Board, added, “I am delighted for the whole Southdown team that their hard work in developing and delivering a thoughtful and individualised approach to the way we support our tenants has been recognised by this award. Supported housing is becoming increasingly challenging to deliver, and the important message about the significant preventative benefits (and costs savings) this form of housing delivers is not being heard at a national level. Fortunately, our partners across Sussex have been very supportive and we look forward to continuing our collective work to ensure that the individual and their needs is central to our work.”
Jim added, “As a small, supported housing provider, we know our tenants well and they know us. We have 50 tenants for every one member of our Housing team. This enables us to listen, learn and adapt what we do to be the best landlord we can.
“Our tailored approach to meeting our tenants’ needs really shone through when we purchased Vernon Gardens in Brighton, a specially adapted building for tenants with a physical disability, from a large national Registered Provider in 2021. The team have since established a great working relationship with tenants, put in place regular tenant meetings, and undertaken significant fire safety work.
“Our Discharge to Assess service, run in partnership with Brighton & Hove City Council and Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, is another great example of developing and delivering a housing offer that meets people’s needs. The service offers short-term packages of personalised support and accommodation for people ready to leave mental health inpatient settings. Starting as a six-month pilot, the service quickly evidenced a reduction in delayed discharges (reducing NHS costs) and significantly improved outcomes and experiences for individuals. As a result, Southdown was awarded a longer-term contract which the Discharge to Assess team do a fantastic job delivering.”
“Congratulations and well done to everybody across Southdown involved in helping us to be the best supported housing landlord we can be.”
