In a first for the organisation, this was a hybrid event which took place in person in West Dunbartonshire, Perth and Dundee, with speakers at three locations, while remote interactivity and discussion were made available virtually, emphasising CHA’s commitment to inclusion, innovation and engagement.

The conference, which took place last month, allowed all CHA staff from across the country to connect and collaborate with each other with a focus on providing knowledge and tools to ‘make it right’ for all colleagues, tenants and communities.

Key themes discussed on the day included Cost of Living & Financial Wellbeing and Community and Mental Wellbeing. In addition, staff were able to hear from a range of external speakers from Dundee University, Shine a Light, Citizens Advice, Scottish Federation of Housing Associations and the social enterprise, Scarf.

Barry Johnstone, director of people at Caledonia Housing Association, said: “We recognise that the last year has presented challenges as we continue to emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic and are now facing a cost-of-living crisis. Our frontline teams, aided by their colleagues across the Group, who all continue to work incredibly hard to support our tenants through unprecedented and unpredictable circumstances, are key to our ability to make a difference and we felt it was important to have a day which celebrates what our people have achieved.

“We also focused on learning more about the key issues that our tenants and indeed the wider industry are facing. I am proud of the collaboration on the day, the energy from everyone as we look towards the future and that our agile working practice allowed us to host a hybrid event which minimised the cost, reduced the carbon footprint and provided every single colleague with the opportunity to participate.”