Oaklee publishes updated corporate strategy and announces rebrand

Oaklee, an approved housing body established in 2001 and a founding member of The Housing Alliance, is transforming to meet the need for social and affordable housing.

The priority of the Oaklee board for the next three years is to deliver more homes and to make a significant contribution to increasing the supply of social and affordable homes.

To guide our work, we have restated our purpose — why we exist — and refreshed our values to confirm what our partners and residents can expect of us and what we hold ourselves accountable to, as we deliver on our most ambitious plan yet.

Our mission is to change people’s lives by providing them with secure and stable homes which enables them to live, thrive and prosper. We do this by creating more sustainable and inclusive futures for people and communities through great housing.

Sharon Cosgrove, Oaklee CEO, commented: “Everything we do and achieve depends on our many partners, residents and of course our own team of dedicated people. We can only realise our ambitions by working together to achieve positive change.”

Significant wins to date

Despite the impact of external factors on our 2020-2023 plan including Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine, our record and performance during this period in relation to addressing building defects, improving health and safety compliance and resident services, is one we are very proud of.

We grew our housing stock and homes in management through our delivery programme, the completion of Acorn Housing and Social Housing Bundle 1. We also established three hubs that operate in Kilkenny, Tullamore and Ardee where we have “boots on the ground” and local connections strengthened. As we look forward and start our financial year from April, we are focused on enhancing prospects through housing.

Kearney’s Drive, County Offaly – 41 units that caters for large and small families, single people and couples.

Future growth: Delivering more homes through strong partnerships

The delivery of social housing at scale, with strong counterparties and with the addition of cost rental properties are all ambitions contained in the corporate plan.

The landscape has changed, with local authorities (in Dublin and commuter counties, Cork, and Limerick) increasingly asking large AHBs like Oaklee to deliver mixed tenure developments of both social and cost rental. This is a challenge and a new tenure we are excited to be involved in.

For that reason, Oaklee’s pipeline grew during 23/24 with more mixed tenure projects now being assessed by the team, and in turn are beginning to come through the organisation for consideration. Taking this change into account, embracing the opportunities presented for mixed tenure, the targets in this business plan propose an increase in cost rental, alongside social housing for 24-25 and beyond.

“We have a number of exciting projects currently in contract stage and once completed, will become landmark developments for the company” said Helen Moore, Director of New Business and Development.

Providing top quality resident services

Oaklee provides services to residents in Oaklee’s owned and managed housing, as well as in Comhar PPP Bundle 1. We strive to delivery high quality responsive services and to ensure that customers value and trust what we do and how we do it. We make use of the feedback through regular surveys and strong resident engagement activities to design and to improve our services. We work collaboratively with support organisations, agencies, and service providers to ensure that our residents with specific needs are properly supported to sustain their tenancies and live independently. We also work with local authorities, An Garda Síochána, and other agencies to address anti-social behaviour and to make the homes and communities safer for our residents.

Our approach to building communities starts with using our learning to inform the type, location and design of new homes and communities, working closely with development colleagues in Oaklee and design teams on construction projects. The allocations and pre tenancy work, as well as the initial building of resident groups and resident engagement activities all help to ensure that we support the creation of thriving communities, where people can prosper. We set targets for service delivery across the range of services we provide, that we monitor monthly, and we use sector benchmarking to drive performance in Oaklee, learning from others and sharing what we do well.

Rebranding for the future

To support these ambitious company objectives, Oaklee has just completed a significant rebranding project. This unique identity will allow Oaklee to expand its communications channels and activities to achieve greater reach and drive increased awareness of the brand and provide the right foundations from which we can achieve great things over the next three years.

As we work to deliver against our objectives, our corporate values are what guide our behaviour and make sure every action, every decision, every word or promise we make leads to more and better homes for those who need one.

T: 01 400 2650
E: enquiries@oaklee.ie
W: www.oaklee.ie