Championing equality, diversity and inclusion in the housing profession

In 2020, CIH committed to improving equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in our organisation, throughout our membership and across the housing sector. Over the past year, we’ve taken steps to ensure EDI is at the heart of our culture and our success, including:

• Creating a staff and a members EDI group to drive change across the organisation
• Rolling out EDI training to all CIH colleagues
• Hosting sector leading EDI sessions and events
• Reviewing and updating CIH policies to ensure that all aspects of our work are inclusive.

However, we also know there is more we can do, more than you expect of us and that we expect of ourselves.

What’s next for us

This year we are focused on improving our customer relationship management (CRM) system so that we can capture data and discover what our membership and in turn the housing profession looks like. This won’t just be with regards to ethnicity, but other characteristics as defined by the 2010 Equality Act. A new CRM is just the start but once it is in place we will come back to you, our members, and look for your support in updating it so we can build a clear picture of our profession.

Alongside this, we are also signing up to an independent race equality code so that we are better employers and have a clear focus on race equality, EDI talent development and recruitment as core priorities in our organisation. That is our commitment to everyone that works (or wants to work) for CIH.

We also recognise the need to show leadership to the sector and we are in the process of reviewing and updating the CIH Diversity Charter that was first published in 2012. We plan to relaunch this later in 2022 alongside key resources, to support landlords so they have the tools they need to make their organisations reflective of their tenants and customers.

Our work doesn’t sit in isolation, with landlords across the UK already taking great steps to improve equality, diversity and inclusion in their organisations and communities. The launch of the CIH professional standards last year was a kick-start in our support for the sector and our plans to focus on EDI. Over the next 12 months you will see the importance that equality, diversity and inclusion has as part of our commitment to housing professionals across the sector.