Metropolitan Thames Valley

Who we are

Metropolitan Thames Valley provides affordable housing for people living in London, the South East, East Midlands and East of England.

We also offer a range of care and support services. Our specialist areas include older people, mental health and transitional services which provide intensive support to marginalised or vulnerable people.

We deliver training programmes, events and activities for our residents, designed to boost employment opportunities and foster stronger communities.

A member of the National Housing Federation the G15 – which represents London’s largest housing associations – we influence policy for the benefits of our residents and the wider sector.

In October 2018 like minded housing associations Metropolitan and Thames Valley Housing formally completed a partnership to form Metropolitan Thames Valley. We came together because we want to improve the services we provide and do more in our communities. We’ll do this by listening to our customers and working alongside them.

History

Passengers stepping off the Empire Windrush in 1948 at Tilbury Docks would have encountered a very different country to the one we live in today. Bombing during the Second World War had inflicted widespread damage to urban areas, construction materials were in short supply and rationing continued.

Invited to Britain to fill post-war labour shortages, many of these Caribbean migrants had to live in squalid conditions without basic amenities. Like others on low incomes, they also faced insecure tenancies and homelessness.

It was against this backdrop that our legacy organisations, The Metropolitan Coloured People’s Housing Association and Thames Valley Housing, were founded, with a mission to provide safer and more affordable homes in our inner cities.

As time went by, the organisations grew in size and diversity. In the 1980s, with home ownership central to Government housing policy, both housing associations introduced shared ownership schemes, making it easier for people to get a foot on the housing ladder. Metropolitan went on to provide care and support services, while Thames Valley Housing began to provide keyworker accommodation for NHS Trusts and student accommodation.

The new century saw Metropolitan take over the management and regeneration of the Clapham Park and Ashmole estates in Lambeth, while Thames Valley Housing opened its largest private finance initiative scheme in Woking. In 2012, Thames Valley Housing launched its market rent business, Fizzy Living.

The two organisations joined in October 2018 and, in total, own, manage or administer around 57,000 homes. Together, we want to improve the services we provide to customers, do more in our communities and build a better future for generations to come.

Our culture and values

MTVH 2030 is our new strategy. It sets out our ambition over the next few years: to make sure every resident has a safe, comfortable home, receives a service they can rely on, and benefits from the new homes, opportunities and communities we build for current and future generations.

MTVH 2030 has been shaped in partnership with residents to reflect their priorities and aspirations and create a future together built on trust and excellence.

As a not-for-profit social landlord our focus is on continuous improvement to provide the best for our residents while making every pound count.

MTVH works through trusted partnerships with communities, local authorities, developers and investors to build new affordable homes, helping to address the housing crisis and deliver wider positive social impact.

Over the course of MTVH 2030 we plan to build 6000 new homes.

Our objectives

Our ambition over the next four years is to deliver excellent homes, service and opportunities for our current and future residents. We will achieve this by pursuing three strategic objectives to benefit our residents: 

Your home

Maintaining safe, good quality homes that residents can be proud of.

Your service

Understanding the needs and preferences of our residents and delivering an excellent service.

Your future

Building new homes, working with communities, and creating opportunities.

The MTVH 2030 strategy – pride in every home, a future shaped by you

Delivering the strategy

Delivery of the strategy is underpinned by our ongoing partnership with our residents and investment in and support for our people as they do their jobs.

We commit to amplifying our residents’ voices, embedding their feedback into service improvements and establishing a partnership of equals.

We will invest in our valued colleagues and develop the culture, systems, processes, training and technology to enable everyone to play their part in MTVH 2030.

Equality, diversity and inclusion policy

We want to capture the value that difference brings and are committed to promoting equality, diversity and inclusion. We work collaboratively ‘Serving people better every day’ to educate, support and develop all of our diverse employees and the communities that we serve.

We want every employee and every customer to feel comfortable enough to be their true self and are working tirelessly in the background to create an environment that encourages our employees to challenge non-inclusive behaviours and to be mindful of their own and other’s wellbeing.

Network groups

We are proudly committed to equality and diversity as a core part of what we do – both as an employer and in the services we provide to our customers. Our attitude towards diversity is reinforced by our various employee networks supporting gender , ethnicity, sexual orientation and disability. These are supported across all strands by our allies across the whole company.

These networks provide a platform for employees to share views, tell us what we’re doing well and recommend improvements. We want to create a real sense of community and a workforce who feel that their opinions are valued. It also helps us address business challenges and ‘Serving people better every day’.

• Ethnicity – supports the development and progression of ethnic communities at MTVH. The network provides a forum to identify and escalate issues affecting BAME employees.
• Gender – supports MTVH in meeting its diversity ambitions around gender enabling them to reach their full potential. We look to influence the culture of the organisation to be more supportive to women.
• LGBTQ+ – support MTVH on LGBTQ+ issues, champion inclusion and celebrate diversity. This is part of building a truly inclusive environment where everyone can be themselves and perform their best. It supports our LGBTQ+ and non LGBTQ+ staff (who may have team members coming out, for example, or know family or friends who need support or advice.
• Disability – Supporting MTVH become confident about disability and improve the work environment of both disabled employees and employees who care for disabled people. The network discusses ideas and solutions that affect everyone both internal to the organisation and in the wider context and works to raise levels of employee engagement.