Julie Haywood is director of community investment for WHG, a "profit for purpose" housing association in Walsall.

Her role is focused on people: happier people have better lives, she says.

In this episode Julie describes WHG's investment into communities and how it creates opportunities for people.

Housing associations are anchor organisations, says Julie, and although commercial they should make profit for a purpose, to build and invest in stronger communities.

Social value includes digital and financial inclusion, money management, helping people to move into the job market and other and wraparound support. It helps tenants pay their rent and stay in their homes.

Julie also covers:

Cross subsidy to build more homes.WHG's buying power means it plays a big role in community transformation.The biggest barriers to achieving effective social value.WHG's community investment strategy.Supporting local businesses to become part of the WHG supply chain.Social value is part of WHG's overall corporate plan with clear KPIs (Key Performance Indicators).WHG's plans for the future when it comes to social value.

Enjoyed the podcast? Please leave a review or rating! And if you are interested in being interviewed and are from an existing social enterprise creating a proven impact, please contact presenter Heidi Fisher at Make An Impact CIC.

Hi, I’m Heidi Fisher, the host of the Make an Impact Podcast. I'm an impact measurement expert, passionate about helping you make a bigger impact in the world by maximising the impact your services have.

I can help you to measure, manage and communicate the impact you have better to funders, investors, commissioners and other stakeholders, and to systemise your data collection and analysis so that it frees up time and doesn’t become an additional burden.

I love helping you to measure social and economic impacts, including Social Return on Investment or value for money assessments, as part of understanding the change you make to peoples’ lives.

You can get in touch via LinkedIn or the website makeanimpactcic.co.uk if you’d like to find out more about working with me.