Why buying our own houses with social investment capital guarantees safe, high-quality housing for our residents
A development loan from Social and Sustainable Capital (SASC) is enabling us to purchase our own social housing stock. Rather than sub-contracting places from other providers, owning our own houses means we can control and ensure the quality of housing places for our residents. At a time when social housing scandals keep hitting the headlines, it has never felt more important to take control of our housing stock and so guarantee safe, high-quality accommodation for our residents.
Developing our housing stock
We bought our first SASC-funded house in Accrington in March, and are now pleased to announce the acquisition of a further four houses – two in Rossendale, a third in Macclesfield and the fourth in Congleton. We already occupied the two Rossendale houses under previous leases and continue to accommodate up to 13 residents there as part of our Rossendale Housing project services across east and central Lancashire.
The new houses in Macclesfield and Congleton each provide accommodation for three residents and will form a part of our Cheshire East housing services. These are commissioned by Cheshire East Council and support people with a range of complex needs. Both houses are being refurbished and improved to ensure they are fully compliant and provide a high-quality living environment. The Congleton house welcomed its first residents in late October and the Macclesfield house is expected to be ready in mid/late November.
Four further houses are currently being acquired – two in Hertfordshire, one in Gloucester and the fourth in Middlewich, Cheshire East. Their successful purchase will take us close to using the full loan facility from SASC.
SASC have been incredibly supportive throughout this process, guiding us through the complexities of the housing market and directing us towards areas of the country where there is a need for our services.
Positive impact of social housing investment
SASC recently visited our Accrington house with one of their investors to see the new housing in action, talk to staff and residents and understand first-hand the positive impact of their housing fund on our residents and the local community. SASC told us they were delighted to see the standard of refurbishment at the Accrington property and enjoyed meeting support staff.
A SASC representative commented: “We identify high-performing frontline organisations who believe ownership will lead to better quality housing and the opportunity to deliver higher calibre support. We were delighted to work with Emerging Futures and support them on their journey to develop their housing pipeline.”
“EF’s CEO, Ray Jenkins, recently said to me that working with SASC had enabled the organisation to become a commercial as well as a professional business. At SASC, helping organisations develop their capacity and resilience, and support the growth of their skills in house, is what motivates us. We are delighted to be working with EF and look forward to continuing our support in the future.”
Emerging Futures continues to be grateful to SASC for providing these loans and enabling us to continue to deliver essential services to residents in our own, high-quality houses.
