Members of the Black Country Health and Housing Forum, a network of social housing and local authority housing colleagues from across the region, attended the four-day programme to find out how housing and health can work together to benefit communities.
The forum was established by whg in collaboration with the NHS Black Country Integrated Care Board (ICB), following the success of the already well-established health and housing partnership that has developed in Walsall between whg and health.
It was officially formed in March 2023, with the ICB funding a full-time health and housing partnerships managers role within whg. Since then members have attended the Black Country Integrated Care System and Housing Development Programme, delivered by the Housing Associations’ Charitable Trust (HACT).
The intensive programme has supported forum members to build an understanding of the Black Country health system, as well as learning from the experience of partnerships happening in other areas.
It has covered a range of topics including the NHS journey to integrated care, population health management, the importance of evidence-based decision making in the NHS, health inequalities, anchors, and the importance of place.
The fourth session, which took place in May, marked the final day of the programme, and saw a range of presentations from health colleagues from across the Black Country. Throughout the session, attendees heard about the Black Country Provider Collaborative and how acute trusts in the Black Country are working together to plan, deliver and transform services, as well as what’s happening regionally and nationally in the housing sector.
Tapiwa Mtemachani, Director of Transformation and Partnership for the Black Country ICB, said: “I am really proud of the work that we have done so far with our housing partners across the Black Country. I am especially grateful for the strategic leadership and commitment of whg, who have worked with us to develop the community champions model which has become the forerunner for the work we seek to take forward with our wider housing partners to help address inequality and create opportunities for local people who are passionate about making a difference within our underserved communities.
“Again, with thanks to whg, the health and housing role we have funded has pioneered a really meaningful engagement between the health and housing sector and saw the creation of our first ever health and housing forum that becomes the mechanism by which we co-design and co-innovate transformational delivery across the Black Country.
“I am excited to build on the relationships established so far to ensure our Black Country residents have better health and wellbeing outcomes.”
Connie Jennings, Director of Stronger Communities at whg, said: “In recognition that people who live in social housing often have the worst health and the least access to services, whg has invested in the health and wellbeing of our communities through our H factor strategy - health, hope and happiness. We launched our Social Prescribing Service in January 2020, supporting people through the pandemic and beyond, and now have a number of roles funded by the NHS which are improving health promotion and disease prevention through early intervention that addresses social determinants and health inequity.
“We are keen to ensure social housing residents across the region benefit from the best practice we have established at whg. We are proud to have worked with the Black Country ICB to share our knowledge and provide support to establish the Black Country Health and Housing Forum and will continue to support social housing landlords to adopt our innovative approaches.”
Louis Bebb, Housing Policy and Strategy Lead Officer for Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, said: “From a local authority perspective, the ICS Development Programme has been a very useful network-building and information-sharing exercise. Ultimately, it has allowed me to gain a better theoretical and practical understanding of how we can bridge the gap between health and housing as a collective across the Black Country.”
Muna Choudary, Head of Wellbeing Services at Green Square Accord, said: “The course has really helped me to understand the complexities of the new health structures, and how, as housing associations, we can collaborate with our health colleagues to positively change health outcomes for our communities. The quality of the speakers and discussions has been excellent, and I look forward to working more closely with my Black Country colleagues through the Health and Housing Forum.”
Naomi Dorrington, Senior Manager - Partnerships and Inclusion for the NHS Black Country ICB, said: “The development programme was a great chance to understand some of the Black Country’s housing providers better, how they currently work with the NHS and the huge opportunities to involve housing more in the local NHS.
“From understanding the data, intelligence and insights both sectors hold to developing new social prescribing models utilising our housing providers strong community links and involving our housing partners in our emerging provider collaboratives, I’m excited about the potential of our Black Country Health and Housing Forum.”
The Black Country Health and Housing Forum members include whg, Green Square Accord, Bromford, Midland Heart, CHADD, Black Country Housing, Nehemiah Housing, Wolverhampton Homes, Wolverhampton City Council, Sandwell Metropolitan Council and Dudley Metropolitan Council.
We look forward to building on our partnership to reduce the impact of health inequalities across the Black Country.
