The ALMO ‘supercharging’ its workforce with staff from social homes

In September 2020, tenant Kelle Gresty arrived at the Stockport Homes Group office looking for a QR code to pay her rent. She left with an employment support offer, and, a few weeks later, a full-time job with the organisation. 

“My employment journey with Stockport Homes was very unexpected,” says Ms Gresty, a secure tenant at the Stockport-based ALMO since 2018. “At the time I was managing a local cafe, which suited me well as I have a daughter, so the school hours fitted.”

However, having previously worked in finance and debt management, Ms Gresty was eventually hoping to get back into office work.

She recalls: “Upon arrival at the reception area, I was greeted by Maria from the employment team… Maria asked me if I was currently employed, and if I would be interested in any employment support.”

After explaining her longer-term plan, Ms Gresty was given an appointment to see a Stockport Homes employment support officer the following week. 

During the appointment, the officer helped Ms Gresty to make a CV, and, after hearing about her previous experience, suggested a role at Stockport Homes itself. “He said he thought I would make a great addition to Stockport Homes,” says Ms Gresty. “This had never crossed my mind, but once he said it, I was excited.”

Over the following weeks, Ms Gresty was put forward for three interviews. The first two – for roles in HR and the furniture project team – went well, but she didn’t get the jobs. 

The third job opening was for a role on the Stockport Homes employment team. 

“One of the ladies who interviewed me for the previous jobs rang me and said a role was coming up, and she thought it would suit me,” Ms Gresty recalls. “I spoke with [my Stockport Homes employment officer], as I was a little apprehensive because I had never worked in employment, but he explained it was an admin role, and he was sure I would like it.”

Ms Gresty went for the job – and got it. 

“That was five years ago this September, and I can honestly say it’s the best move I ever made,” she says. The employment and training administrator maintains that if she hadn’t been encouraged by Stockport Homes staff, “I wouldn’t be here enjoying the role every day”.

Since the latter half of 2024, Stockport Homes has “supercharged” its efforts to hire staff who are social housing tenants themselves, according to Amanda Ward, head of inclusion at the ALMO. 

Ms Ward says Stockport Homes, which manages more than 12,000 properties on behalf of Stockport Council and private landlords, and which achieved a chart-topping 91% tenant satisfaction score last year, has “always operated [with the ethos that] our workforce should reflect the customers that we serve”.

But the ALMO’s efforts to support the employment of social housing tenants were redoubled last year, when it became part of the 20% Movement – a Housing Management Matters-backed initiative launched by the 26 chief executives of the Greater Manchester Housing Providers (GMHP) pledging that, by 2034, 20% of staff in each of their housing associations will be from a social renting household.

“The great thing with the 20% Movement has been the meetings and the joined-up approach, seeing how other people are doing it [working towards their 20% target],” Ms Ward explains. “I am not above stealing a good idea.”

For Stockport Homes, it is written into the organisation’s employment policy that any entry-level job openings – those with salaries of between £24,000 and £27,000 and requiring Level 3 or 4 qualifications – must be directed to its own employment team before being publicised to a national audience. 

Depending on the job requirements and the urgency to fill the vacancy, its employment team has a designated period of time – between several days and a week – to find a good fit for the role within the local community. This local pool can include Stockport Homes customers, as well as other job-seeking individuals who the team supports as part of its close alignment with Stockport Council. 

Any candidates from the pool who seem like a good fit are prioritised for an interview, Ms Ward explains. “If [Stockport Homes is] happy with them, the job never goes out to advert,” she adds. 

Over the past two years, the employment team has supported 19 people into jobs at the ALMO. According to Ms Ward, their support can represent a vital “step up” for some customers who “are quite far from the employment market” and would struggle in a typical candidate pool.

Since joining the 20% Movement, Stockport Homes has also ramped up its data-gathering around employment, to ensure a targeted approach. 

A recent internal survey of Stockport Homes staff revealed that 30% of the workforce have previously lived in social housing, while 11% currently live in social housing (not necessarily Stockport Homes properties). 

Perhaps even more impressively, between April and October 2024, 86% of people offered a job by Stockport Homes had previously lived in social housing, despite the job interviews themselves being tenancy blind. 

“The trend is going in the right direction,” Ms Ward says.

Internally, Stockport Homes is already reaping the rewards of its supported employment drive.

“Kelle puts us right on a lot of things,” says Ms Ward. “There will be things that we’re talking about, or doing, as an organisation, and Kelle will say, [for example], ‘I know why you sent that letter, but it didn’t feel like that when it dropped on the mat’.”

Ms Ward says the benefits of having customers working in-house abound – from the constant suggestions about what will have the biggest impact for customers, to the scrutiny they can provide right from “the inception point” of a project, whether it’s as small as a leaflet or as big as an event. 

“It makes you much more responsive; it makes you more alert,” Ms Ward says. “Having people who are not just our employees but our service users as part of the organisation enriches our capacity to deliver what we deliver. We are better because we have people who receive our services within our organisation.”

Inside Housing Management is supporting the 20% Movement as part of its Housing Management Matters campaign.

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