Susanna, our Head of Customer Journeys and Insight, reflects on our history as part of LGBTQ+ History Month.
This LGBTQ+ History Month, we are taking the chance to reflect on our own history, and the journey that has gotten us to where we are today. We celebrate LGBTQ+ History Month to honour the people, movements, and moments that have shaped LGBTQ+ rights and culture, and to recognise the ongoing work that is still needed to achieve equality. It’s a chance to share stories that are too often overlooked, and to help create greater understanding, visibility, and inclusion for everyone.
Before we merged as Notting Hill Genesis, former Genesis Housing were one of the original sponsors of the first ‘No Place Like Home’ research in 2017, an important study aimed to uncover LGBTQ+ residents’ experiences in relation to their social housing and their views about what needs to be changed.
Fast forward to 2019, the HouseProud Pledge was formed directly in response to this piece of research, with Notting Hill Genesis being one of the founding members.
The HouseProud Pledge scheme which is now known as the The LGBTQ+ Housing Pledge was developed in association with residents, staff and sector leaders from across the country to hold social housing providers accountable for improving services for LGBTQ+ residents to develop a relationship of trust.
The home should be a place where people can freely express their sexual orientation and/ or gender identity without fear or prejudice, however research suggested that this is not always the case. The pledge directly recognises this, and means that housing providers signing up to the pledge are committed to being part of this change.
As co-chair of PROUD, NHG’s LGBTQ+ staff network, I am really proud of NHG’s ongoing commitment to the LGBTQ+ Housing Pledge. As a staff network PROUD exists to promote an inclusive, welcoming workplace for LGBTQ+ colleagues and in turn to ensure we’re promoting those very same values for the residents we serve. I know from my own experience what it means for LGBTQ+ residents to feel safe in their homes and live their lives free of stigma, prejudice and discrimination of any kind.
The LGBTQ+ Housing Pledge is hugely important and remains a valuable commitment to ensure housing associations who are signed up to the pledge continue to promote inclusive and equitable outcomes for LGBTQ+ residents.
