GMHP holds its first Social Value Conference in Greater Manchester

Housing providers and social enterprises come together to deliver social value to the region

The first ever Greater Manchester Housing Providers (GMHP) Social Value conference was held today, Thursday 23 January, at Federation House in Manchester.

The fully-booked event saw over 150 representatives from housing providers, including many GMHP members, social enterprises, and business community from across Greater Manchester come together. The common purpose of delegates was to celebrate their achievements in social value so far, sharing learnings and planning for future collaborative efforts.

Collectively, in the last year, GMHP members have supported 6,500 residents towards work, awarded £2.2 million of grants for community-run projects, housed close to 2,000 people who were previously homeless and built more than 1,200 new homes.

The brand new conference, which engages with colleagues from across procurement, regeneration, human resources and other roles in the social value agenda, aims to build upon the success so far in the region, whilst also informing attendees of the impact their roles could have on creating further social value and equipping them with the knowledge they need to make a practical difference.

The event was chaired by Lee Sugden, CEO at Salix Homes. Lee said:

“It’s fantastic to see so many members of the Greater Manchester housing community take an interest in how they can impact social value in the region. Not only was the conference a great opportunity to showcase what we can achieve, but it has given countless local social enterprises a platform to speak from and opportunity to engage with other businesses and service providers.”

The conference also included a number of interactive workshops for attendees to take part in including, ‘Being a good employer’, ‘Increasing our impact through procurement’ and ‘Increasing our spend with social enterprise and championing the sector’.

City Mayor of Salford, Paul Dennett was the keynote speaker at the conference, said:

“Thank you to everyone who joined us at the first ever GMHP Social Value Conference. This event was a great chance for us to take a step back to review and celebrate the success the group has achieved so far. The GMHP Social Value group which was set up in 2017, has already made big strides in increasing social value in the region, however, the event has offered us an important opportunity to share learnings and discuss the power of working collaboratively so that we can work better in the future, in order to make a real difference to Greater Manchester.”

The GMHP Social Values group also launched its first ever directory of social value enterprises in the region.