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The Bradford Community Housing Trust (BCHT) Group and Manningham Housing Association (MHA) have been short listed for a prestigious national award for their joint work in building cohesive communities.

The joint submission coordinated by BCHT is among six entries short listed for the Housing Corporation’s 2008 Gold Award for Excellence in the Building Cohesive Communities category. It was one of 24 entries from around the country.

The Gold Awards are an annual celebration of best practice in the social housing sector. 

The submission embraces the shared vision of BCHT and MHA to creating cohesive and sustainable communities. It highlights:-

- Both housing groups expertise in meeting the needs of Black and Ethnic Minority Ethnic (BME) communities.

- Our joint work to promote cohesion across Bradford district’s diverse communities including promoting involvement and tackling harassment.

-  Investment in building new homes and attracting new tenants from across ethnic groups.

- Encouraging a diverse workforce and tackling areas of under-representation through innovative projects such as the Youthbuild training project and ‘taster’ days to attract more women into construction careers.

-  Promoting a transparent Homehunter choice-based lettings system, managed by BCHT, for people looking for high quality rented homes and improving access across communities.

A team of judges from the Housing Corporation will visit all the short listed housing groups over the next few weeks as part of their final assessment.

Geraldine Howley, BCHT Group Chief Executive said: “We are delighted that this joint submission has been short listed by the Housing Corporation’s Gold Award judges.

“Promoting and building sustainable communities lies at the heart of our vision to be the landlord, employer and partner of 1st choice. Through our joint working with MHA we are achieving excellent results to bring together people of different backgrounds and work to strengthen communities.

“We are looking forward to showing the judges our innovative work and approach to building cohesive communities across the district.”

 Anil Singh, Chief Executive of Manningham Housing Association, said: “Our joint bid with BCHT reflects well on effective partnership between social landlords and their residents towards achieving community cohesion. This is important for the future of Bradford, especially as it helps to burst some of the myths around residential segregation and gives greater confidence to those who see our future as one landscape with many views.”

There are three categories to the Gold Awards – Building Cohesive Communities, Delivering Joined-up Development and Tackling Worklessness. The Housing Corporation will announce the winners in May 2008.

04.02.08