At this year’s prestigious Housing Heroes Awards, held at Manchester Central, Fairoak Housing Association were the recipients of a Team of the Year Award.
Fairoak provides high quality supported accommodation for people with learning and other disabilities, and has properties located across the north of England including the South Lakes, Furness, west Cumbria, Northumberland and County Durham.
The award category was for organisations with fewer than 1,000 properties and saw the Fairoak team pitted against commercial property developers and housing associations from across the country.
The awards, held alongside the Women in Housing Awards and Housing 2023 conference, the Chartered Institute of Housing’s annual conference and Europe’s largest housing festival.
It celebrated the leaders, innovators and changemakers across the UK, championing successes and sharing learning from teams and individuals within the housing sector, with achievements at all levels – apprentices and tenants to chief executives – were recognised at the event.
Lisa Chant is Chief Executive at Fairoak Housing Association: “Overjoyed doesn’t come close to describing how we feel about winning this award. We are a small team but are completely committed to providing the best quality supported housing for our tenants. All the staff regularly go above and beyond to ensure that our tenants receive an excellent service and it was hugely rewarding to have all our hard work recognised with a national award.”
All bar one of the Fairoak team were present with Lisa at the ceremony to receive the award – Sharon Handley, Matthew Davidson, John Holmes and Alison Barnes.
“We are a very small team so there was plenty of room on the stage!” jokes Lisa, “It was just a shame that our other Lisa [Taylor] couldn’t be there as well to share the moment.”
Alison Barnes is the Customer Engagement Officer at Fairoak Housing Association: “Our work involves quite a lot more than most housing associations might undertake; for example, Fairoak also provides advice for our tenants on how to obtain the support necessary to live independent and fulfilling lives within their local community.”
“We are proud of how we work with our tenants. We want each individual to feel welcome and supported, so every visit, every phone call and every message is treated with the same urgency, care and respect – the tenant is at the forefront of everything we do.”
“It may sound a cliché but, along with our board, we all share a vision and a passion to transform the lives of people with a learning disability by providing the highest quality housing and support services we possibly can.”
Lisa Chant concludes: “Winning this award has really put Fairoak on the map and demonstrates that, although small in number, we have a team who can deliver that vision.”