We’ve joined an innovative Black Country health and housing partnership

The Health and Housing Forum, which is convened by fellow social landlord Walsall Housing Group (whg) in partnership with the Black Country Integrated Care Board (ICB), held its inaugural meeting this month.

GSA is one of five housing associations involved in the forum alongside three-stockholding local authorities: Sandwell Council, Dudley Council, the City of Wolverhampton Council and Black Country ICB.

An ICB is a statutory NHS organisation that is responsible for developing a plan for meeting the health needs of a local area, managing the NHS budget and arranging for the provision of health services in a geographical area. 

Tapiwa Mtemachani, Director of Transformation and Partnerships at the ICB, said: “We are really pleased to see the partnership between health and housing taking shape within the Black Country. The forum is a great opportunity for partners to share learning and look at innovative ways of improving outcomes for our Black Country population. The ICB remains committed to supporting the continued development of this partnership as part of the overall development of our integrated care partnership.”

The Forum will bring together Black Country social landlords, our local Integrated Care Board and the NHS to help deliver more for the communities we all operate in.

Stuart Rochelle, our Regional Localities Manager, who represents GSA on the Health and Housing Forum said: “The Health and Housing Forum is an innovative partnership between two closely related sectors: housing and health. The Forum will bring together Black Country social landlords and our local Integrated Care Board to help deliver more for the communities we all operate in.

“This new partnership builds on the success of current health and housing partnership programmes that are currently being delivered in the area.”

Muna Choudhury, our Head of Community and Wellbeing, also sits on the Health and Housing Forum to represent GSA and our customers. She said: “We look forward to working with local partners to address some of the issues surrounding the health and housing agenda, and we are keen to develop and apply our learning around this in other localities that we operate in.”

The Health and Housing Forum includes whg, GSA Bromford, Churches Housing Association of Dudley and District, Nehemiah Housing, Black Country Housing Group, Wolverhampton Homes, City of Wolverhampton Council, Sandwell Council and Dudley Council.