Platform Housing Group is joining forces with the police and other agencies to tackle hate crime.
The Midlands social landlord – which is a member of the South Worcestershire Hate Crime Forum – is working in partnership with West Mercia Police as part of its support for Hate Crime Awareness Week.
The national initiative – which runs from Saturday 10 to Saturday 17 October this year – takes place annually, providing an opportunity to raise awareness of what hate crime is and stand by those affected by it.
Hate crime includes any criminal offence targeted at someone that is fuelled by hostility or prejudice related to an individual’s disability, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation or transgender identity.
The local agencies involved are running an online campaign throughout the week to highlight online hate crime.
Tom Piotrowski, Diversity and Inclusion advisor at Platform Housing Group, said: “As a large social housing provider in the county, it is important that we play our part in such important initiatives.
“And with the numbers of reported hate crime remaining high, it continues to be a priority to challenge and stamp out hate crime in our communities.
“We are hoping that the online campaign – which includes hard hitting videos – will reach a wide audience with the message that we have a zero-tolerance approach towards all forms of prejudice and hate crime.”
Platform Housing Group works with the police and other partners throughout the year to report hate crime and raise hate-crime awareness.
Since 1 April 2020, 232 hate crimes were reported in South Worcestershire, compared with 245 for the same period in the previous year.
Superintendent Jim Baker, from West Mercia Police, said: “We are aware that for every reported hate crime there is an unknown number of unreported hate crimes, so the key message from us is, if in doubt or if you think you may have been a hate crime victim, report it.”
Piotrowski concluded: “As a business we stand firmly against any type of hate or prejudice.
“We pledge to challenge them both in the workplace and in our communities.
“Our aim is to bring people together, say no to hate crime, and to work together to ensure our communities remain safe.”
Platform Housing Group – which owns 46,000 homes in total – completed 1448 homes in 2019/20 at an investment of £258m.
The group also built more social rented homes (981) during the past two years in England than any other provider – almost one-third of the total social-rented homes built.
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