An introduction from Larry Gold
What a busy and incredibly rewarding year it’s been for SYHA and our customers! South Yorkshire Housing Association joined Places for People (PfP) in December 2025. Since then, we’ve refocussed our strategic plan – all to ensure we have the right priorities and resources to provide great homes and services for local people.
I’m pleased to share that we’re already seeing benefits of being part of PfP, which include:
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- Increased investment in our homes and communities
- Being able to offer the real Living Wage to our employees
- Opportunities that come with being in a larger group, including value for money when procuring services, and being able to offer support like a Hardship Fund.
However, as Steve Ashton (Chief Partnerships Officer at PfP and SYHA Board member) shared in Inside Housing, there are plenty of mutual benefits to partnership. SYHA’s rich, nearly-55 year old legacy means we also have plenty to offer and share with PfP – you’ll learn more about our success and growth in this Annual Review.
There is plenty of great news to share from the last 12 months – but a highlight for me has been our increased focus on Customer Engagement, with more opportunities for customers to get involved and tell us how we’re doing. A big thanks to everyone that’s shared feedback, shaped services, and generously given your time and insight to help us do better.
The improvements we’ve made are evident in our Tenant Satisfaction Measures. We’ve seen our Overall Customer Satisfaction increasing to 84.6%, up from 78.9% last year, with 10 out of 12 satisfaction measures improving. This is great to see – and all the results give us a clear picture of what’s working well and where we need to improve.
Our Work and Wellbeing services continue to go from strength to strength. Last Autumn, we secured the Connect to Work contract for Barnsley, Doncaster and Rotherham, funded by South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) to provide personalised employment support for people with health conditions or disabilities to find or stay in work. In our Annual Review, you’ll also find out more about Jobsplus in Maltby and our employment support for people experiencing homelessness – all a clear demonstration of our commitment to helping local people to realise their potential.
It’s been a fantastic 12 months – but there’s so much more to look forward to in the coming weeks and years. Thanks again for your ongoing support, feedback, and helping to create an organisation we can all be proud to be a part of.
Next section – how we’re doing