Broadland Housing Association

Homes, community & support since 1963

    • affordable

    Tenants can now get training in independent living skills

    Independent East / Your Own Place / Broadland Housing logos

    Broadland Housing tenants can benefit from tenancy and independent living skills training – thanks to our membership of Independent East.

    Your Own Place CIC successfully delivered its Tenancy and Independent Living Skills (TILS+) workshops to Saffron Housing Trust tenants last year. These engaging, practical workshops are now being offered to tenants of Broadland, Freebridge and Orwell housing associations, through their membership of Independent East.

    From January 2022, Your Own Place, a social enterprise based in East Anglia, will deliver the workshops to tenants at locations across Norfolk and Suffolk. The workshops, a mix of digital and face-to-face sessions, provide opportunities for people of all ages to develop and build on existing skills. A wide range of topics is covered, including saving and budgeting, self-care and wellbeing, and digital skills. The aim is to make a positive difference to tenants’ lives through developing their confidence and resilience.

    Helping more people into employment

    The partnership with Your Own Place is an exciting collaboration for Independent East. The new initiative aims to help more people into employment, reducing rent arrears and potential future evictions.

    Helping people to sustain their tenancies is a central part of what Broadland do. We are thrilled to be part of this partnership with Independent East and Your Own Place to invest in more support and training for many more people.

    Catherine Little, Executive Housing Director, Broadland Housing Association

    We’re absolutely delighted to be working not just with the residents of 4 regional housing associations, but with 4 housing associations that want to collaborate, support residents from across East Anglia and recognise that our Tenancy & Independent Living Skills Plus (TILS+) are beneficial for any person in any situation. Their compassion and understanding that having an impact on lives goes way beyond just being their landlord is why we want to work with them and be a part of building on the skills that tenants already have. We know that the residents we work with are experts in their own lives, we respect their experiences and contributions and love the two-way learning. Fun, participative and engaging workshops will be delivered with 400 tenants during 2022 across 8 different locations – with the aim of building the skills to be happy in their homes and ultimately prevent homelessness.

    Rebecca White, CEO, Your Own Place

    We have been really pleased with how well the workshops have been received by Saffron’s tenants and it’s fantastic that it’s now going to be delivered by Independent East to help even more tenants across the region. Not only is it a great opportunity for them to learn new skills, but it provides scope for tenants to meet those from other housing associations, share their experiences, support one another and help create cohesive communities.

    Paula Tuck, Assistant Director of Customer Services at Saffron and member of the Independent East Residents Group

    Watch a video of Chantay, one of Saffron’s tenants, talking about her experience of the TILS+ workshops (credit: Your Own Place).

    4 new affordable homes at Clenchwarton, near King’s Lynn

    We are pleased to announce 4 new affordable homes at Clenchwarton, near King’s Lynn in west Norfolk, acquired from Trundley Properties.

    The 2 x 2-bedroom and 2 x 3-bedroom semi-detached houses are a mix of shared ownership and affordable rent. They are part of a new development of 18 homes at Laurel Farm Meadow by Trundley Properties and Buildwise.

    Andrew Savage (Executive Development Director, Broadland Housing Association) with Ben Trundley (Construction Manager, Trundley Properties Ltd) at Clenchwarton, west Norfolk
    Andrew Savage with Ben Trundley (right)

    We are delighted with the progress made on this development, despite the challenges of the restrictions we have been subject to over the past 2 years. The development includes a social housing element and we are pleased to have identified Broadland Housing as the social housing provider on this scheme. We very much hope we can work with them again in the future.

    Ben Trundley, Construction Manager, Trundley Properties Ltd

    This is the first time we have worked with Trundley Properties and we are very pleased with the outcome. We have been able to acquire some very well built, energy-efficient homes to increase the choice of affordable housing in this area of the county.

    Andrew Savage, Executive Development Director, Broadland Housing Association

    Webster Court flats ‘built’ in 3 days!

    Webster Court apartment being craned into position in Norwich
    Webster Court, Norwich, on Day 3 of construction
    Webster Court, Norwich, on Day 3 of construction

    New apartments for people experiencing homelessness in Norwich have been ‘built’ in 3 days at Webster Court.

    The modular apartments were craned into place on site in November, with each storey being ‘built’ in just one day! Watch the timelapse video. The flats were lowered into position with windows, heating systems, kitchens and bathrooms already fitted.

    The new apartment block, on a disused car park next to a housing with care scheme run by St Martin’s Housing Trust, will provide desperately-needed homes for people who are homeless in Norwich.

    Tenancies of 6-24 months will be available, and tenants will be supported to find a long-term solution to their homelessness. The first residents are due to move in before Christmas.

    It’s identified in our Rough Sleeping Strategy that we are in desperate need of homes for people who might be homeless, or who are on the verge of being homeless. It’s so wonderful to see these homes that have grown almost overnight.  What a start for someone who could have their lives changed, and with the proper support, will be able to progress through life in a far better place.

    Councillor Gail Harris, Cabinet Member for Social Housing, Norwich City Council

    We chose a modular construction route because of speed.  We are looking at a very tight site here, so we needed a solution that would minimise disruption and have just three days of actual construction. The fundamental issue we have in the UK, and in Norwich, is that we do not have enough housing.  That is why we have a problem, that is why we have street homelessness, that is why so many vulnerable groups are struggling to find the right accommodation.  That is why it’s so important to be delivering housing.

    Andrew Savage, Executive Development Director, Broadland Housing Association

    The new block has been delivered in partnership with Norwich City Council, who gifted the land. The Department for Levelling up, Housing and Communities and Homes England supported the construction with funding. Other partners in the project include tenancy support providers St Martin’s Housing Trust and The Magdalene Group; modular supplier modular supplier Modpods International; technical consultants Ingleton Wood, Aecom and Rossi Long; and Munnings Construction.

    We are also grateful to Moving Forward-Norfolk (MF-N). Rob Begley, Founder Member, cleaned the 6 flats ready for the tenants to move in, free of charge. MF-N is a not-for-profit organisation set up in April 2021 to tackle the problems caused by hoarding and self-neglect.

    New alliance aims to improve services for tenants

    CEOs of Norfolk and Suffolk social housing providers in Independent East
    Top row: Michael Newey (Broadland), Andrew Smith (Havebury)
    Front row: Anita Jones (Freebridge), James Francis (Saffron), Wendy Evans-Hendrick (Orwell)
    Logos of 5 local housing associations in Independent East

    Broadland Housing has joined 4 other social housing providers in Norfolk and Suffolk to form a new informal alliance, Independent East.

    Broadland has agreed to share knowledge, experience and good practice with partners Freebridge Community Housing, Havebury Housing Partnership, Orwell Housing and Saffron Housing Trust.

    The aim is to support each other in delivering better services to our tenants and local communities. The new alliance will also create a collective lobbying voice for social housing in the region.

    Independent East describes itself as:

    …made up of independently minded, and individually sustainable, housing associations with similar and complementary values and business objectives based in Norfolk and Suffolk, which are willing to share knowledge and experience; to support each other in the delivery of our individual corporate strategies; and to explore opportunities to work better together.

    Independent East manifesto

    The 5 organisations will create senior management forums to explore the potential for common approaches. However, each housing association will continue to operate independently of the others.

    We are very much looking forward to collaborating with our Independent East Partners over the coming months and years.

    We will be working together on new projects, sharing ideas and best practices, and supporting each other to have the biggest possible impact on the communities we serve while driving innovation and change within the housing industry.

    This ambitious partnership fits well with our long-term customer-focused objectives, and we are proud to be a part of it.”

    Wendy Evans-Hendrick, CEO, Orwell Housing Association

    Celebrating 20 years: the real Living Wage

    Broadland Housing Chief Executive Michael Newey has encouraged all businesses and organisations to consider paying the real Living Wage. Speaking at the Living Wage Foundation‘s 2021 event in Norwich, he said:

    The real Living Wage is part of our wider strategy to deliver high levels of staff engagement and as a result deliver a high level of commitment to our tenants and to the organisation. We are a ‘people’ business.  We provide people with homes, and our people provide our tenants with the services they require.  The quality of our employees is vital to our success. Treating people fairly and with respect is key to our culture and drives that engagement.   

    Paying our employees a real Living Wage is all about us respecting our staff, ensuring that they are paid properly for the jobs they are doing. It reduces the chances that they will need to turn to benefits to look after their families, and struggle to make ends meet. 

    Paying people a wage that allows them to have a reasonable standard of living shouldn’t be an optional extra for organisations whether in the public, private or third sector.   

    If you can’t afford to pay people properly for the job that they do for you – if you need to ask them to apply for in-work benefits because you can’t afford to pay them a real Living Wage, then I believe that trustees, directors, executive teams and shareholders need to ask themselves some difficult questions about their business model.

    Michael Newey, Chief Executive, Broadland Housing Association

    Broadland Housing was first accredited as a Living Wage Employer in 2016. There are more than 300,000 people working for almost 9,000 real Living Wage Employers throughout the country.

    What is the real Living Wage?

    The real Living Wage rates are rising to £9.90 across the UK (40p increase), and £11.05 in London (20p increase), supporting workers and families. The Living Wage rates are the only rates independently calculated based on what people need to live on. 

    Unlike the Government minimum wage (‘National Living Wage’ for over 23s – £8.91 rising to £9.50 in April 2022) the real Living Wage is the only wage rate independently calculated based on rising living costs – including fuel, energy, rent and food. A full-time worker earning the new, real Living Wage would earn £1,930 a year more than a worker earning the current government minimum (NLW). For a worker today that’s the equivalent of 7 months of food bills and more than 5 months’ rent based on average household spending in the UK.

    Exciting new developments for the Living Wage campaign

    Organised by Aviva plc, Norwich City Council and Future Radio, the Living Wage Week event in Norwich celebrated the historic achievements of the campaign, and the benefits for both employees and employers. There were presentations by Phoenix Events, Future Radio, Aviva and Allan Waters, Leader of the city council. There was also a look ahead to new developments – Living Hours, a Living Pension and Norwich’s plans to become a Real Living Wage City.

      

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