On Zero Discrimination Day, 1 March, we celebrate the right for people to live a life free of prejudice and bias. Gender, race, religion, disability or sexual orientation should not be a reason why a person is treated unfairly or differently.  

Every year tens of thousands of people in England and Wales suffer prejudice and hostility because of their identity or perceived ‘difference.' Discrimination is the main driver for social exclusion and can cause significant emotional and physical damage to the well-being of victims, their families and wider communities.

This is why we take a zero-tolerance approach and we are committed to providing a working environment, housing and customer services free from discrimination of any kind, and ensuring all colleagues and customers are treated with dignity and respect.

Community Safety is about feeling safe, whether at home, in the street or at work and you can contact us to report instances of hate crimes, domestic abuse, harassment or antisocial behaviour (ASB). In fact, MSV is an approved Hate Crime Reporting Centre, and our Community Safety Team has been trained to help support victims, submit police reports, help to prevent escalation and better understand discriminatory behaviour in our neighbourhoods. 

Report in confidence

Anyone can report an incident of Hate Crime or Behaviour, you do not need to be a customer of MSV.

You can call us 24 hours a day to report any incidents in strict confidence on 0161 226 4211. Our Community Safety Team will respond and provide updates and support. Alternatively, you can email staysafe@msvhousing.co.uk or contact us via your MyMSV Account if you are an MSV customer.

However, if a crime is taking place or someone is in immediate danger, please call 999.

Anti-Racism Taskforce (A.R.T) In September 2020 we set up a working group helping MSV to be more actively anti-racist called the Anti-Racism Taskforce (A.R.T). Their first priority has been to review our zero-tolerance and reporting policies and procedures such as Hate Crime, Anti-Discrimination, Harassment and Bullying, and Lone Worker policies. You can read more about A.R.T's determination to call out racism and promote inclusion in the housing sector, in an article written by our CEO, Charlie Norman for Inside Housing recently; How our anti-racism taskforce has inspired action within the organisation We are pleased to announce that our Equality and Inclusion Group later this year will be founding a working group for LGBT+ colleagues and allies to promote LGBT+ inclusivity at MSV this year. Watch this space!

Other A.R.T. work in progress:

• We’re reviewing all tenancy agreements for general needs, supported and sheltered housing to explicitly include our zero-tolerance approach to discrimination, including reviewing supported tenancy easy read documents.
• We’re adding a line to our property adverts reinforcing our zero-tolerance approach.
• We’re reviewing employment contracts to ensure our zero-tolerance approach is explicitly included.
• We’re recognising different cultural and awareness days and ensuring that they are inclusive of all ethnicities and backgrounds.
• We aim to utilise staff who are able to speak languages other than English to help translate to our customers in a more culturally appropriate way.