It may have escaped your notice, but all of us in the North East recently were invited to elect a new regional Mayor of the North East Combined Authority. I don’t know who your preferred candidate may have been, but for me, more important than the colour of the rosette of the elected individual was that finally the North East would be regaining a collective voice with a role for regional infrastructure planning that we have been missing ever since the removal of the “One North East” organisation many years ago.
Seeing this opportunity, all the Local Authorities and Housing Associations across the North East seized the opportunity to make the case for social housing, and we came together in the form of an alliance of interest which we called, imaginatively, the North East Housing Partnership (“NEHP”).
Our thinking was that together we are so much more than the sum of our parts, and good, affordable housing, of the sort that Housing Associations deliver is a bedrock of a healthy society – impacting areas across the whole of the economy beyond the obvious one of homelessness in areas such as health, wellbeing, care and employment, as well as making a real difference in the economy delivering regeneration, development and placemaking and potentially making strides towards reducing the North East’s carbon footprint.
The Prospectus published by by the NEHP sets out how as a partnership we can tackle the challenges the region faces by making progress, together, in four thematic areas:
Because we knew we can make such a difference, we felt it was therefore important to get in on the ground floor as the new Mayor was considering their role and where they felt their influence and attention could make a difference.
So far things are looking good and the NEHP has begun to enjoy a helpful dialogue as our newly elected mayor prepares to take office, and we congratulated and look forward to working with our new Mayor, Kim McGuinness to increase and improve the provision of all the good things as we co-ordinate our efforts in this wonderful area sandwiched between the Tweed and the Tees, the Pennines and the North Sea.
As the largest almshouse charity in the UK, DAMHA is very proud to be part of this forward-looking initiative and to enjoying this new relationship as we continue to make our contribution to the life of the North East.