emh group

We are one of the largest providers of affordable homes and care and support services in the East Midlands. We have around 18,000 properties in more than 40 local authority areas across the region, and we provide care and support to hundreds more customers. 

The group includes:

emh homes: providing 18,000 affordable homes for rent and ownership across the region

Enable: providing care and support services to a wide range of customers, from people with disabilities to victims of domestic abuse

Midlands Rural Housing: a specialist rural housing services and expertise

Hello Homes: a specialist home sales agency

Sharpes Garden Services was established in 2012/13 for the purpose of generating funding to support the emh group academy. This has proved to be very successful. In 2014/15 it was possible to Gift Aid £150k which covered the bulk of the costs of running the academy.

During 2014/15 the academy went from strength to strength. A pre-apprenticeship trainee scheme was arranged for six individuals, with two being offered an apprenticeship. Seven apprentices were taken on at the academy and three of the apprentices from the previous year were offered an undergraduate position.

The success of the academy has been increasingly recognised externally with a number of awards received including:

• Invited to join European Apprenticeship Alliance as an Ambassador
• Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) 2014 ‘Achiever of the Year’ awarded to the Leader of the academy
• City & Guilds top 100 Apprenticeship Employer from the National Apprenticeship Service
• Regional Apprenticeship Award –Newcomer Large Employer of the Year

To provide more structure to the measurement of Social Return on Investment, we have been investigating the various modelling tools. It was decided to use the Action Research Social Impact Evaluation from Baker Tilly. A number of group projects have been selected for assessment as follows:

• emh Academy
• Occasions Catering Service at Enable
• JT Project at Enable
• Green team activities
• Re-ablement project at our new Extra Care Scheme

It is vital that at a time of fundamental change the voice of medium-sized community-based housing associations is loud and strong, and that we collectively articulate the importance of what we do in shaping places and communities. A huge amount of work is carried out on social and economic regeneration as well as providing homes and this work must not be lost in the clamour for building more homes especially at a time when market conditions are proving increasingly hostile to growth.