INDEX
Chair’s introduction
Added to this we now see an entirely new group of people struggling to make ends meet - people who’ve never had financial worries or needed support before. As a result, this has been a transformative year, re-shaping how we and the sector think and operate, looking at how we can do more to meet the changing needs and expectations of customers and communities now and into the future.
Mike Kirk
This is my last annual review as Chair of VIVID and as I reflect on my 6 years in the role (2 of which were at First Wessex, pre-merger), I can say it’s been a huge honour to have played a part in creating VIVID, as a strong and vibrant organisation.
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VIVID is a leading provider of housing in Hampshire, Surrey, Berkshire and West Sussex, with increasing regional and national influence. During the last 4 years, VIVID has become a leading provider of new homes and delivered significant and sustained improvement in service standards to the customers in the 32,000 homes that we manage, alongside the delivery of over 4,000 much needed new homes. None of this would have been possible without the energy, enthusiasm and dedication of all our employees to ensure that we can continue to provide the best homes and services possible for our customers.
2020-21 ANNUAL REVIEW AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
In this last year there have been extraordinary forces at play, and for the sector, and VIVID in particular, this has demonstrated our strong position as a housing association to be a vital anchor within our communities to help them through challenging times. The impact of the coronavirus pandemic has caused us all to have varying degrees of instability and uncertainty. But it’s those who were already struggling for example through unreliable income, lack of secure housing or needing other support, that continue to be hardest hit and many are now at breaking point.
Lockdowns have made everyone understand the importance of their home and community on their overall health and wellbeing. We adapted rapidly to new ways of working whilst still delivering essential services to our customers and communities and we will use the learnings from this to consider how this should positively influence Mark Perry our future plans. You can read more about our approach to the pandemic our future Chiefand Executive areas of focus in the following sections. Alongside the impact of COVID-19, other significant influences in the sector continue unabated, such as building safety and changes to regulation, carbon zero targets, the social housing white paper and the continuing shortage of affordable housing. These all continue to be a major priority for us at VIVID with robust, sustainable strategies and plans being developed and implemented.
