1. ABOUT ARHAG PRINCIPAL ACTIVITIES “ Our principal activity is still tomanage, maintain, build and growour social housing accommodation stock for both renting and home ownership.” Arhag – African RefugeeHousingActionGroup – was founded in 1979 as a campaigning organisation for the better treatment of Migrants and Refugees. The aimwas to provide a stable, decent, and affordable home which would act as the platform for residents to improve their lives, support their families and make a positive contribution to their communities. In 1989 Arhag was formally registered with the Housing Corporation and spent the next just over 30 years working to become a good Housing Association. We nowmanage and own 911 homes across 14 London Boroughs and one borough outside Greater London. Most of our tenants are nominated by the Councils in the local authorities where we work. Our principal activity is still to manage, maintain, build, and grow our social housing accommodation stock for both renting and home ownership, but in November 2016 we decided that, whilst a stable and decent home was a good platform, the other needs of Migrants and Refugees were not being met. One such unmet need was health where we noticed that for various reasons many Migrants and Refugees (“M&R”) – particularly those who are undocumented – became Isolated from the health service and often do not receive the service they need. Therefore, we decided to set ourselves up as a “go to” organisation and work in collaboration with partner agencies which provide a range of non-housing services as well as training and support for women suffering gender-based violence. As part of our commitment and passion for the “go to” agenda, in early July 2019 we moved into the People’s Place in Stratford, which is now our head office and where we are joined by our M&R partner agencies. Annual Report 2021-2022 11
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