North East Housing Partnership

Our partners are committed to more than just providing safe, secure and affordable homes- we are also committed to working in partnership with our communities and supporting local groups to address challenges, overcome barriers and tackle inequalities that exist. Last week, two of our partners, Northumberland County Council and Bernicia Group held a ‘Tackling Inequalities in Northumberland Through Housing’ event, with several other partners attending and contributing. Our Vice-Chair John. Johnston was co-chair of the event and highlighted some of the work that Bernicia are doing, as well as the wider work across the region with the North East Housing Partnership. An important part of many of our partners work is to provide grants to community groups to support them to continue with their vital work and expand where possible. There are many examples of this but here are few news stories on our partner’s websites: Livin Housing provided funding over the summer which allowed over 800 children, young people and families to enjoy fun activities whilst keeping active and healthy. Link: https://lnkd.in/eyyz9q6D. The charitable arm of Bernicia, the The Bernicia Foundation has provided over £1 million in support for the region over the past 4 years, supporting projects that deliver lasting community benefits and help inspirational young people reach their goals. Link: https://lnkd.in/e_ADSJsC. Gentoo Group organised a family fun day at the Beacon of Light in Sunderland to bring people together and provide a range of free activities including outdoor sports games, football, bouncy castles, a dance party, baking and biscuit decorating and arts and crafts. Link: https://lnkd.in/evtgPCa7. Karbon Homes has an Unlocking Social Value programme which matches the social value commitments of its contractors and suppliers with organisations that they work with to support them, and this has recently been used to support the regeneration of a community centre. Link: https://lnkd.in/eriiVjs7. believe housing has provided funding which has enabled St Margaret’s Centre, on Margery Lane, Durham, to open a volunteer-led community hub which offers a wide range of activities to the local community and serves affordable food options. Link: https://lnkd.in/e8UVM64N. It is only through partnership working with other anchor organisations that we will be able to make the systemic changes that are needed and we remain committed to driving forward more collaboration in the region.

We welcome the announcements over the weekend that the chancellor is pledging to support social housing providers in the upcoming budget. The extra £500 million for the current Affordable Homes Programme (AHP) will enable our partners to bring forward stalled schemes, and we look forward to receiving further clarity on the governments long term plans, including details of the next Affordable Housing Programme, at the Spending Review next Spring. We are also glad to see that the government is looking at a 5-year rent settlement at CPI + 1%, but we support calls for a long-term rent settlement to give our partners the certainty they need for the next 10 years. We know the government has difficult decisions to make, but investment in social and affordable housing will support all of the government's missions and be an integral part of fixing the foundations, and we remain committed to working with them to do so. Link: https://lnkd.in/eaBR7CpF.

Green Start builds on our partnership working with Housing Employment Network North East (HENNE) and extends the approach that they have pioneered as part of the New Start programme, and we are proud of our partners work to improve employment opportunities for our customers, with 22 people starting placements earlier this month. Green Start is a training programme, funded by The North East Combined Authority, which is supporting people to learn green energy skills and to ensure that employers have access to the skilled workforce required to achieve net zero and wider environmental ambitions.   Over the last few months, 52 people have completed a pre-employment course to enhance their skills and learn about the green economy and some have already been able to secure employment. One person who completed the course has since enrolled full time on a renewable energy diploma at college. There is more about Green Start from the Inside Housing article earlier this year here: https://lnkd.in/d3rQ7eBF and keep track of this page and Housing Employment Network North East (HENNE) for more information.

It is great to hear that BOOST is making a difference to social housing tenants in North Tyneside.   This is one of several employability programmes that the Housing Employment Network North East (HENNE) partners have been collaborating on and helping people access the support they need is a key objective of the NEHP. Our partners remain committed to improving and increasing access to support for jobs and training, working closely within our communities to build confidence and provide opportunities for all. We're looking forward to seeing more support programmes emerging from HENNE.

We're thrilled to see the The North East Combined Authority and Homes England signing the Strategic Place Partnership at the end of last week, an important next step in enabling the region to deliver on its housing plans. As a group of housing providers, many who also develop new homes, we look forward to working closely with both partners to unlock sites and ensure successful, sustainable regeneration happens to the benefit of local communities. There is still a lot more work to do and with the right support, we can go further and faster, but it's certainly an exciting time to be in the North East!

It was great to hear from our Chair Paul Fiddaman at the Chartered Institute of Housing Northern Housing Festival, held earlier this week, speaking about devolution and the work of the North East Housing Partnership. Our partners identified the importance of coming together early on in the process of devolution and we have been able to get ahead of the establishment of the The North East Combined Authority and the election of Kim McGuinness as our North East Mayor and proactively work with both on plans for the region. If you haven't seen the details of the North East deeper devolution deal, here is the link as a reminder: https://lnkd.in/eRjWMvEK. This includes a wide range of powers and has a section on Housing and Regeneration, as well as more about wider investment in the region which we believe is essential to connect people to opportunities. We are looking forward to seeing this deal implemented and further announcements about this in the coming weeks and months.

There is always more that we can do but we are proud of all the work that our partners do to provide homes, build sustainable communities and more. We just wanted to take a moment to congratulate some of our partners who have been been shortlisted for the UK Housing Awards 🏆 The full list can be viewed here: https://lnkd.in/g3ZwHqc but we've picked out our partners and the categories that they have been nominated in below ⬇ 𝗜𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿 – 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻/𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 o  North Tyneside Council and HUSK o  Repairs and maintenance insourcing team - Home Group  o  Thirteen Universal Credit team – Thirteen Group 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 o  Karbon Homes o  Tyne Housing 𝗛𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿 o  Future Steps programme – Thirteen Group 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗿𝘂𝗶𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿 o  New Start - Karbon Homes 𝗘𝘅𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆-𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 o  Livin Housing 𝗕𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗮 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 o  Livin Housing It is also great to see that the Northern Housing Consortium, who act as the secretariat for the NEHP, has been shortlisted for Campaign of the year. The winners of the awards will be announced at the end of November and good luck to all those shortlisted (but especially our partners!)

It is great to see the new government’s Warm Homes Plan coming together, especially the publication of further documents for the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund Wave 3, which social housing providers will be able to benefit from. Our partners have been using the previous waves of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund to deliver projects across the region which have improved thousands of homes. Wave 3 will now allow us to kick on with plans and we have been working together over the last few months to prepare for another large consortium bid from housing providers across the North East and Yorkshire. For all the projects, our partners each provide a significant amount of our own investment through match funding, but without the government support, we would not be able to deliver at the same scale.   There are so many good examples of work that has already been delivered but here are a few articles which highlights the funding won and what impact this has had: believe housing completed a £5 million project to make 1,100 homes warmer, greener, and cheaper to run in 2023, and is underway with further upgrades to at least 2000 more homes as part of Wave 2.1. Link: https://lnkd.in/ejSqpeZU. Karbon Homes has completed upgrades to 91 homes in Northumberland and County Durham and is underway with its further upgrades to homes in Wave 2.1 funding. Link: https://lnkd.in/ew4G9R-h. Bernicia Group has been working on plans to improve 865 properties as part of its wider investment in homes and communities. Link:https://lnkd.in/gYm7BzUX. Gentoo Group won £2.845 million funding as part of Wave 2.2 for upgrades to more than 700 homes awarded, building on previous work in retrofitting properties in Whinfell, Washington from Wave 1. Link: https://lnkd.in/e3ApQG27 Newcastle City Council has been successful in the Wave 1 funding for 200 homes in Walker and the extra £6.8 million of funding from Wave 2.1 is being used to improve the energy efficiency of 436 homes in Newcastle. Link: https://lnkd.in/eG5xqgiU.

The new government has set an ambitious housebuilding target of 1.5 million homes over this parliament and Alan Boddy, the lead for the partnership's Regeneration, Development and Placemaking workstream, has provided some commentary on what this means for our partners. There are a variety of issues that we are facing in the social housing sector that mean that delivering on the targets will be challenging. However, our partners have a strong track record of building new affordable homes in the North East and are committed to doing all we can to match the government's ambitions. With the right additional support in place, we have an opportunity to make a huge difference. Read more about this in the comment piece below ⬇ https://lnkd.in/epyG7JJ6

It is always great to see the amazing work that our partners are doing to support people towards, into and whilst in work. Our partners do more than providing housing, we also support people in their lives through our Employability work. This is one of our four main workstreams and several of our partners are proud to be part of the innovative Housing Employment Network North East (HENNE). Under the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, the HENNE partners are delivering six programmes across the North East and by March 2025 will have engaged over 1500 people and created over 300 jobs opportunities. Our Vice-Chair, John. Johnston, spoke about all the work that is being done at the Housing Community Summit last week and there is a lot more exciting work in the pipeline which we will be sharing over the next few months. Last Friday, it was also Employability Day, and several of our partners took part. Check out the article published by Bernicia Group on the day about its strong history of recruiting apprentices and celebrating the latest cohort of new apprentices. Link: https://lnkd.in/dmg-9Tnb.