Unity celebrates another year of providing housing choice, improving life opportunities and addressing inequalities

This month, Unity celebrated another year of providing housing choice, improving life opportunities and addressing inequalities at our Annual General Meeting.

The meeting was held at the HAMARA Healthy Living Centre in Beeston, Leeds, where Unity own a number of properties. Tenants who lived in the proximity of the venue were invited to help us celebrate in our success, find out about the challenges that face our organisation in the future and to meet our staff. The community centre is well-used by the surrounding neighbourhood and well-known to the people who live close by.

Chief guests at the meeting were Mark Burn-Williamson, Police & Crime Commissioner for West Yorkshire and Neil Evans, Director of Environment & Housing for Leeds City Council – both gave impassioned speeches and gave those present at the meeting the opportunity to ask questions about their roles. Our partners, shareholders and residents were very keen to ask about the future of their homes and neighbourhoods.

Guests at the meeting also heard from Belinda Letham, Chair of Unity’s Scrutiny Panel. Ms Letham commented on how tenants can influence decisions that affect the business, closely examine Unity’s performance and meet on a quarterly basis to discuss ideas for improvement.

Unity is hoping to increase the number of tenants who have an active role in shaping the services that we deliver. We have vacancies on our Scrutiny Panel and we would be very keen to hear from you if you would like to be involved.

Chief Executive of Unity Housing, Ali Akbor, also spoke about ‘where tenants matter most’ which was the theme of this year’s Annual Report. He addressed the issue of Welfare Reform and how Unity might be able to help tenants cope with the changes that the reforms threaten. He also stated how keen Unity was to increase opportunities for tenants and residents to be involved in decision-making processes so that we are able to tailor our services to those who receive them.

Are you worried about the changes that Welfare Reform might mean for you? Have you already been affected and need some advice? Speak to our Financial Inclusion Officer, Clive on 0113 200 7751 for free advice on welfare, debt and budgeting.

Would you like to be involved in any decision making at Unity? Would you like to help us shape the way that we deliver our services. Speak to our Resident Involvement Officer, Emma on 0113 200 7743, for more information about how you can ‘get involved’.