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All our tenants deserve access to fitness and well-being
For National Fitness Day, Greg Reed, chief executive of Places for People, shares why he believes we should improve access to health and fitness facilities
Greg Reed is group chief executive of Places for People
My life changed in 2017, when I was told that rather than being retired and spending time with my family in 10 years’ time, if I didn’t make big changes, my type 2 diabetes meant I’d either be blind or dead.
Alongside making huge changes to what I eat, I began hitting 10,000 steps a day and then slowly turned that into a light jog and I went on to run every day in 2018 and ran the London Marathon. I now run over 50 miles per week and I’m raising money for Diabetes UK to help others in my position.
As landlords, we have a huge responsibility for people’s health and well-being. The average person spends 90% of their time at home, so the starting point for us must be the provision and maintenance of good-quality housing. No one’s mental or physical health should be adversely impacted by their home – sadly we have seen tragic cases in this country where that has happened and it must stop.
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As people grapple with the rising cost of living, sacrifices begin to be made, and money spent on staying fit and healthy must go elsewhere.
Running has given me so much in terms of staying physically fit as well as clearing my head. Finding something that gives me that has been one of the most important events of my life and has unlocked a door to a much happier and more fulfilled life. I want everyone to have that opportunity. Regardless of who you are and where you live, you must have the same opportunities to live a healthy and happy life and fitness is such a big part of that.
Sadly, barriers stand in the way of a lot of people and disproportionately it’s those who live in social housing who are often impacted. Staying fit is unique to every individual person and it must be something you enjoy, which is why accessing leisure and exercise facilities is so important. At Places for People we work really closely within our communities to deliver a whole range of welfare and well-being services to our customers.
For example, we know that over 31% of our customers are struggling to manage financially, and in the past year we have helped 14,000 people with cost of living support, including spending £1m on a hardship fund to offer food and fuel vouchers and rent relief.
Those customers who told us they are struggling financially were also twice as likely to report health concerns. So, alongside cost of living support services, we provided 144 projects targeting health and well-being within our communities in the past year to help 23,855 people to connect and stay active, because we know how important it is to overall well-being.
As a social enterprise, we also own or manage more than 100 leisure centres across England through Places Leisure and to mark National Fitness Day on 18 September we are letting anyone use our facilities for completely free for five days so they can see what they have to offer and work out what works for them.
Then beyond the free pass, we offer discounted memberships to all of our social housing customers, those receiving certain benefits, people with disabilities as well as younger people.
Places Leisure’s priority is to ensure fitness is accessible to everyone and we continue to drive initiatives that aim to tear down barriers that exclude parts of society. A great example of this is the Big Sister Project, which we’ve rolled out nationwide to encourage girls aged between nine and 15 into sport and exercise.
It’s not just areas where we have leisure centres that we look to make a positive impact. Places Leisure gets on the road and delivers health and fitness services to our local communities in a variety of ways. We have organised sports day activities to children across a whole range of different communities, ranging from attending local parks and open space areas in the school holidays, to individual local events for children and young adults in social housing and social care.
“Earlier this year we polled 4,000 members of the public from across all different housing circumstances and 70% said they believed all new housing developments or projects should include new health and/or leisure facilities such as gyms or well-being centres for all ages”
So, what else should we be doing within housing to help? Earlier this year we polled 4,000 members of the public from across all different housing circumstances and 70% said they believed all new housing developments or projects should include new health and/or leisure facilities such as gyms or well-being centres for all ages. Perhaps even more telling, only 6% disagreed.
This clearly highlights why it’s so important that as a sector we think beyond homes and build communities that allow people to thrive in every possible way, and health and well-being is a vital ingredient. That’s why within our plans to deliver 8,500 new homes at Gilston Park Estate, we have put active lifestyles into the heart of our design. There will be more than 500 hectares of open green space, parks and playing fields and easy access to sport and leisure facilities as well as cycle and walk trails.
It’s everyone’s right to be able to live a happier and healthier life and we must deliver a society that allows everyone the same opportunity to do so.
Greg Reed, group chief executive, Places for People
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