Welsh Housing Awards 2024

This award recognises teams who have delivered an outstanding contribution to their organisation and for the housing sector. It is designed to recognise achievement of something special, as part of developing new services, dealing with difficult situations or delivering the best services. 

The judges will look for:

• Evidence of a particular project or difficult task that the team has tackled well together
• Details of how the team has improved the performance of their organisation or improved outcomes for tenants and communities.

Who is eligible?

This award is open to all organisations working in housing in any tenure. This could be a management team, a frontline team or an inter-departmental team.

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This award celebrates individuals who can demonstrate that they have shown passion, commitment and flair in delivering services for tenants and residents.

Judges will look for evidence of:

• Showing a creative or innovative approach to finding solutions for the organisation, tenants or residents
• Showing continuous improvement in the delivery of services in the pursuit of excellence
• Being an inspiration to others – colleagues, tenants or residents.

Who is eligible?

This award is open to anyone under the age of 30 at the time of application, who is working or volunteering in the housing sector, irrespective of tenure. Full-time students studying for a housing qualification are also eligible to apply.

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In challenging times, being there for your community is exceptionally important. Whether you’re a housing organisation whose communication with their tenants and residents has been outstanding over the past year, keeping them fully informed and supported or helping them to stay connected; or, you’re an organisation that has led a local or national campaign to persuade key decision-makers to move in a certain direction on legislation or policy, this award recognises the impact of campaigns. Nominations for this award could be for a single project or refer to your general organisational approach to communication. 

Judges will look for evidence of:

• Working both in the community and across the sector to create alliances and partnerships
• Effective planning, strategy and communication tactics to address a housing issue
• Positive impact, e.g. media coverage, campaign reach, customer response
• Successful outcomes.

Who is eligible?

This award is for housing organisations or teams across all tenures (not just dedicated comms teams) who have delivered outstanding communications in the last year in support of a campaign.

This award recognises innovative approaches to engagement with tenants, enabling them to take a full and active role in the scrutiny of their landlord.

Judges will look for evidence of:

• Innovative ways of engaging with tenants
• Positive outcomes and decisions from that engagement.

Who is eligible?

This award is open to any organisation that involves their tenants in their scrutiny and governance structures and processes.

In a rapidly changing environment, the need to deliver excellent services is more important than ever. This award recognises housing teams who go above and beyond to deliver truly outstanding customer service. We are looking for organisations that have used an innovative approach to gain insight into their customer needs and experiences and have used this to transform services to customers. 

Judges will look for evidence of:

• Accounting for the needs and experience of service users
• Achieving high standards in service delivery, including customer feedback
• Positive and professional staff attitudes towards service users
• Supporting and maintaining tenancies.

Who is eligible?

This award is open to any housing team across all tenures – not just customer service teams. This award is open to all organisations working in housing.

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This award recognises organisations who have demonstrated excellence in their approach to the health and wellbeing of staff and/or tenants over the past year. We are looking to hear about new projects or initiatives which have improved health and wellbeing outcomes for the people connected to your organisation.

Judges will look for evidence of:

• Positive outcomes for staff and/or tenants in the last year
• Using new and innovative approaches.

Who is eligible?

This award is open to all organisations working in housing, homelessness and related services. This may also include organisations working in partnership with housing providers.

This award recognises programmes or projects that clearly demonstrate an innovative approach which has made a real difference to the lives of tenants and customers. This could be any new product, service or technology, in any sphere e.g. decarbonisation – being able to demonstrate innovation is key.

Judges will look for evidence of:

• Using innovative approach(es) to solve a particular housing problem
• Success in either improvement of customer satisfaction levels, or improvement in the lives of people in the community where the organisation operates.

Who is eligible?

The award is open to all housing organisations across all tenures and suppliers to the housing sector, as well as community and tenant organisations. To be eligible, projects or initiatives should have taken place within the last 12 months.

This award recognises partnership and collaboration across the housing spectrum. We want to hear from organisations who have developed, delivered or driven progress through working with partners in and outside of housing.

Judges will look for evidence of:

• New and innovative ways of working
• Improvements in service delivery and quality as a result of partnership working
• Demonstrating best practice and improving the wellbeing of communities through working together.

Who is eligible?

This award is open to projects involving partnership working with another organisation. Partnerships with sectors like health, education or personal finance are examples, but any project that requires collaboration from partners both in and out of sector will be considered.

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This award recognises organisations, individuals or projects that have worked towards preventing or relieving homelessness in the communities they work in.

Judges will look for evidence of:

• Homelessness being prevented or relieved
• Partnership working
• A person centred trauma informed approach
• Helping individuals access a home that enables them to live independently with or without support
• Where appropriate include testimonials from individuals who have has their homelessness prevented.

Who is eligible?

This award is open to any individual, organisation or project, from across tenures, that has made a significant contribution to preventing or relieving homelessness.

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This award recognises organisations leading on promoting equality and diversity within their businesses. We want to hear from organisations who are driving positive, meaningful change and contributing to building a truly inclusive community.

Judges will look for evidence of:

• The changes your organisation has made and how these have had a positive, meaningful impact in your organisation or in the communities in which you work
• Initiatives that demonstrate an organisation’s equality and diversity culture.

Who is eligible?

This award is open to all organisations working in housing across all tenures including landlords, councils, other providers and voluntary or community groups.

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The housing sector, like many others, is faced with the challenge of cutting carbon emissions to achieve Welsh government’s net zero targets by 2050. This award recognises organisations that can demonstrate they have overcome some of the significant challenges in cutting carbon emissions. Applicants may consider new developments, retrofit projects or any other initiatives that have helped reduce carbon emissions.

Judges will look for evidence of:

• Actively responding to the netzero challenge
• Steps taken to drive the retrofit agenda forward
• Creating a positive impact on tenants and residents as a result of reducing carbon emissions

Who is eligible?

This award is open to any organisation, group or partnership that can show how it has met as many of the possible criteria listed above.

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This award recognises projects, initiatives and organisations which have gone above and beyond, working to support their communities during difficult times.

Judges will look for evidence of:

• Collaborative working
• The impact your project or initiative has played in helping to overcome the challenges faced by your community and the difference it has made to people’s lives.

Who is eligible?

This award is open to all social landlords, third sector organisations and those in the private rented sector.

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This award recognises the contribution of organisations involved in building new social and affordable homes across Wales. We want to hear about homes at the cutting edge of innovation, which, through their construction, have not only helped meet housing need but in the process have delivered multiple benefits for the local communities in which they’re situated.

Judges will look for evidence of:

• How the development meets a defined housing need
• Innovative methods used during design and construction
• Partnership working to support the development
• Community benefits delivered through the development.

Who is eligible?

This award is open to any housing organisation delivering social and affordable housing.

This award recognises the contribution that contractors can make towards the local community and economy. We want to hear from organisations who can clearly demonstrate that they have embedded delivering community benefits into their work programmes.

Judges will look for evidence of:

• The local impact that the work on community benefits has delivered
• Embracing the targeted recruitment and training agenda, delivering local jobs and training opportunities
• Going above and beyond in their commitment to both benefitting the Welsh economy and providing benefits to the local community.

Who is eligible?

The award is open to any contractor that has worked with housing organisations across tenures.

This award recognises the critical importance of a range of bodies, organisations and local groups in revitalising and regenerating local communities and neighbourhoods. It also recognises that physical improvements go hand in hand with social and economic developments to make a real difference to people’s lives.

The award acknowledges activity that aims to create places that are healthier, wealthier, fairer, smarter, stronger and greener. Projects should work in partnership with funders, service providers and most importantly, communities, to encourage successful regeneration that contributes to a wider vision and brings benefits to all customers.

Judges will look for evidence of:

• A lasting physical and socio-economic improvement in the area, as well as good prospects for long-term viability
• Improvements in the quality and mix of homes and the aesthetic of the area
• Achieving a sense of ‘place’ within the community
• An awareness of the issues impacting people locally, and reflections on how these have been addressed through the project
• Contributing to broader local regeneration and community wellbeing
• Working directly with communities to inform, shape and deliver the work.

Who is eligible?

The award is open to any organisation, group or partnership that can show how it has met as many as possible of the criteria listed above.

This award recognises landlords who play a vital part in providing housing-related support to a wide range of people. Projects should work directly with individuals, families and carers to empower people to live a desirable quality of life, supporting their goals, ambitions and aspirations through providing a high-quality housing and support environment.

Judges will look for evidence of:

• Developing and delivering housing and support which has engaged with the individual to inform the design and delivery
• Doing more than putting a roof over the heads of your residents
• Helping residents to maintain their independence and live healthy, happy lives
• Working with relevant organisations to get the best outcomes for residents
• Where appropriate, include testimonials from the people and organisations you have worked with
• Tenant satisfaction measures with the landlord services.

Who is eligible?

The award is open to any organisation or group, from across tenures, who has supported individuals or groups to live independent lives.

This award recognises organisations who are leading the way in driving professionalism, learning and development while delivery a great service for tenants. We want to hear from organisations who are fantastic to work for and drive good outcomes for their staff as part of the day job.

Judges will look for evidence of:

• Committing to embedding CIH professional standards across your organisation
• Proactively developing learning and development opportunities for staff
• Delivering great outcomes for tenants as a consequence.

Who is eligible?

This award is open to all organisations working in housing across all tenures including councils, housing associations and private sector landlords and letting agents.

This award is open to all organisations operating in the private rented sector in Wales. It is aimed at letting agents or landlords who strive to excel in the areas of customer service and innovation.

Judges will be looking for evidence of:

• Innovative approaches to customer service
• Innovative approaches to engagement with their tenants
• Innovative approaches to maintaining and securing tenancies
• Innovative approaches to delivery of support services.

Who is eligible?

This award is open to any landlord or letting agent working in the private rented sector in Wales.