With the new Group Structure in place, we began work on a new Corporate Plan to guide Harvest’s future development.  In 2000, we agreed the Corporate Vision, which underpins our work:

“Turning homes and neighbourhoods into places where people want to live and choose to stay”

We believe housing associations must work differently to survive and to make a difference in the communities where they work.  Our vision sums up what we believe in and what we must do in the future.

Traditional housing association structures and processes cannot deliver this vision.  We have developed a new operating model and working methods that can.

The starting point is evidence of what is happening at the neighbourhood level.  Our diagnostic approach includes socio-economic information, housing management data and a neighbourhood audit of local issues and the social capital of a neighbourhood.  We are also developing and using a wide range of customer influencing methods to gather resident feedback.

Based on this analysis we can prioritise neighbourhoods for action.  Our Neighbourhood Regeneration Officers working with residents prepare Neighbourhood Plans identifying the interventions needed to make a real difference.  The categories of intervention are:

     I - Infrastructure
     S - Services
     S - Safety
     U - Upkeep
     E - Economy

This does not mean that we will try to do everything ourselves.  We will work with partners and where someone else is better placed to deliver an intervention we will support them.