Arhag Annual Report 2021

CHAIR’S STATEMENT 2020/21 was yet again dominated by the pandemic with staff working from home but, despite this, it is a great tribute to their commitment and loyalty that they continued to deliver services effectively to our residents under these extremely challenging circumstances. This is evenmore impressive given the lack of stability in the Senior Management Team throughout most of the last financial year. Thankfully, before we ended 2020/21 the situation with Covid-19 was much more under control due in part to the success of the vaccination programme. We were also able to bring much needed stability to the Senior Management Teamwith the appointment of Chris Harris as our newChief Executive and Andrew Shaw as the Director of Finance & Resources. Therefore, going forward, ARHAG is in a much better shape to seize opportunities, deliver on our “go to” agenda and provide super-efficient customer-centric services to our residents. In keepingwith the ARHAG family spirit, our staff have shown their resilience, our residents and hub partners have demonstrated patience and understanding and my Board colleagues have been generous with their time and efforts in supporting the organisation through a period of change and disruption never encountered in our long history. I amboth proud and thankful for how everyone has stepped up to the challenge and this bodes well for the future. We negotiated an attractive 10-year leasing agreement with a developer which will enable ARHAG to take over 21 newly built section 106 units in Carpet Street on the Sugar House Island development very close to our Stratford office. This is an example of how ARHAGwill continue to grow through innovation and partnerships. In addition, exceptional performance on re-letting of empty homes, continued financial stability with generation of £822k surplus and a clear strategy in place to deal with health and safety issues were some of the other key highlights during the last year. However, we know that we have to bemuch better inmany areas, especially in the delivery of our repairs service, if we are to be recognised as a truly customer- focused organisation committed to placing residents at the heart of our service delivery. We have seen the departure of Rosemarie Clarke during the year andWayne Farah since year-end, two of our most trusted and loyal Boardmembers, and I would like to place on recordmy thanks on behalf of the Board for their services to ARHAGover the years. Moving forward, we are committed tomaking a real difference to the lives of the communities we serve. We believe that a safe and stable home is a good start, but a purpose in life and a reason to get out of bed in the morning is what builds successful citizens, communities and neighbourhoods. Therefore, ARHAG’s commitment to resident-driven services, provision of good-quality housing, care and support services to meet local needs and to contribute to the development of sustainable communities is nowgreater than ever before given the likely long-term adverse impact, both financial and social, of the pandemic. In light of this, our ambitious plans to be the ‘go to’ organisation and providemigrants with support which is now extended to include employment, health, immigration advice, campaigning and research will be a key priority for the next year and beyond. Qadeer Kiani ARHAGBoard Chair 6 ARHAG