Livv Housing Group has today (27 April) received a G1 governance rating from the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) after a steadfast focus on simplicity of structure, rebuilding customer confidence and stakeholder trust.
The G1 governance rating is being celebrated across Livv today and has helped put the pride back into the Merseyside-based housing association, which has 13,000 homes across the region and 500 employees.
The association was downgraded to a G3 non-compliant by the RSH in August 2018 after concerns about fire safety, compliance and governance, while its financial viability rating remained at V1.
The governance upgrade follows a three-and-a-half year journey to return to a G1 compliant rating, under the leadership of new Chief Executive Léann Hearne, a new chair and new board, comprising 12 housing sector and non-housing sector professionals with 150 years’ combined experience.
Livv set about simplifying its processes and governance structure and recruited its new, focussed board. Together with its employees, it started the journey back to G1.
This has been underpinned by a getting back to basics ethos, commissioning new stock condition data on its homes and listening to 50,000 sets of real-time customer feedback to help make meaningful change. That has run alongside simplifying systems and processes to improve efficiency and ensure Livv’s homes are safe and compliant.
Said Léann: “I am absolutely ecstatic to see us at G1 V1 compliant for governance and financial viability. To see the smiles on the faces of our colleagues as we shared the news today was the defining moment of pride for us all to share in.
“By going back to basics, without losing our ambition, we’ve refocused our business on our main purpose, being a successful social housing provider for our customers.
“Getting back to G1 has given employees their professional pride back in their employer and for our customers means we have got back to what matters most to them – being a landlord that puts them first, makes a positive impact and creates flourishing communities.”
Livv is equally proud of how its employees helped mobilise Merseyside’s response to the pandemic, with staff working at covid hubs across the borough playing a key role in its customers getting vaccinated and tackling wider issues like homelessness.