This Pride Month, our Head of Housing Jude Leighton has written a guest blog for Housing LIN exploring how the LGBTQ+ Housing Pledge has helped shape a genuinely more inclusive culture across our almshouses — and what that has meant for our residents, staff and the wider Southwark community.
Signed in June 2024, the Pledge gave us a practical framework for embedding inclusion across the organisation — not as a tick-box exercise, but as a cultural shift. Within a year, we achieved Pledge Pioneer status.
In the blog, Jude describes some of the highlights of that journey: naming resident, trustee and staff Champions to drive the work forward; reviewing policies and investing in educational resources; and launching our Rainbow Club — a flagship event that brought together expert speakers, lived experience and community celebration, with everyone welcome.
Since then, we’ve run a series of events putting inclusion into practice, from the Pride Panto ‘Prince Charming’ at Appleby Blue to The Posh Club, a joyful intergenerational social for older LGBTQ+ residents and allies. We’ve also visited the Queer Britain Museum, begun building LGBTQ+ library collections across our almshouse lounges, and partnered with the Life House Project on a resident-led animated training video.
As one resident at Hopton’s Gardens Almshouse put it: “Management’s commitment to LGBTQ+ rights and issues has been exemplary. This culminated in the successful launch of the Rainbow Club which provided a warm welcome to all with an interest, and especially supports the welfare of our LGBTQ+ residents.”
Read Jude’s blog in full on the Housing LIN website: https://www.housinglin.org.uk/blogs/How-the-LGBTQ-Housing-Pledge-transformed-resident-activities-and-inclusion-at-United-St-Saviours-Charity/
