Broadland Housing Association
Homes, community & support since 1963
Working with North Norfolk District Council, we have completed a mixed-tenure scheme of 11 homes on Wells Road in Hindringham, Norfolk.
The new scheme includes:
The homes provide a mix of 7 affordable rent and 4 market sales properties. Building materials include brick, flint and timber, with clay roof tiles, to blend in with the local architecture.
Our Canary Quay project in Norwich has been named Residential Project of the Year in the Constructing Excellence Norfolk 2023 awards.
The fourth and final phase of Canary Quay was completed earlier this year. A total of 323 apartments have been built on the riverside site in Norwich: a mixture of social rent, shared ownership and open market sales.
The Constructing Excellence Norfolk awards recognise innovation and best practice through collaborative working and supply chain integration. Thanks to our partners on this project RG Carter, Ingleton Wood architects and Rossi Long Consulting for their support.
Andrew Savage, Executive Development Director, said:
We are over the moon that Canary Quay has been recognised in this way, especially as RG Carter built through some unprecedented times. This project has taken 13 years from buying the land from Norwich City Football Club to completing earlier this year. It’s all down to the people we want to work with and we have had a great team.
Andrew Savage, Executive Development Director
Last week Broadland Housing attended a national Homes for Cathy strategy day on tackling homelessness.
Around 30 other Homes for Cathy members and housing sector partners took part in the event, hosted by Hightown Housing Association.
Our Chief Executive Michael Newey shared Broadland’s journey in working towards the 9 Homes for Cathy commitments.
Homelessness prevention is not all about care and supported housing. It should permeate into every area of a housing association’s policy and operations.
Michael Newey, Chief Executive
Also among the speakers on the day, Holly Dagnall of Nottingham Community Housing Association described her organisation’s progress to meet the Homes for Cathy commitments.
Chris Hancock from Crisis explained why homelessness is a housing problem and not about ‘fixing the individual’. He reported that B&B usage has tripled in the last 10 years. Also, that around 300,000 UK households could be forced into homelessness in 2023, driven by the cost of living and impacts of the pandemic.
During the strategy meeting, members and partners discussed :
– Housing associations ARE homelessness organisations – if not us, who?
– Board and executive team buy-in for adopting the Homes for Cathy commitments is crucial; an organisation’s work around homelessness should filter down from a strategic level.
– Embedding the commitments is a continuous process, particularly with staff changes – it’s about a culture shift within your organisation.
– Operational outcomes in housing are equally as important as homelessness services (although they are vital too!).
– Data is king – knowing and sharing your data around homelessness metrics/KPIs such as evictions, abandonments and lettings to homeless households helps track the progress your organisation is making and motivates and empowers colleagues to do more.
– Sharing stories is key – every organisation approaches the commitments in their own way and the good practice shared through the Homes for Cathy network is invaluable.
As a member of the Norfolk Strategic Housing Partnership, we support No Homelessness in Norfolk, a partnership of people working together to prevent homelessness across the county.
The latest No Homelessness in Norfolk social media campaign is encouraging people to contact local advice agencies and/or their local council as soon as they are worried about housing costs this winter.
Typically there is an increase in homelessness in January and February. This year, with the cost of living crisis, this situation is likely to be more acute this winter than in previous years.
At Broadland we are encouraging our tenants to get in touch asap if they are worried about paying their rent and signposting people to our cost of living help page.
The Norfolk Strategic Housing Partnership was formed in autumn 2020, bringing
partners together at a strategic level with a mandate for change. The members include:
The first Independent East conference was held near Norwich in November 2022. More than 100 tenants, board members and staff attended from five housing associations based in Norfolk and Suffolk. The conference focused on what lies in store for social housing in 2023 and the important role of tenants.
There were keynote speeches from housing experts Hilary Burkitt, Director of Housing at IFF Research; Kathryn Eyre, Quality, Engagement & Development Director of the Housing Ombudsman; and Kate Dodsworth, Director of Consumer Regulation for the Regulator of Social Housing. The programme also included table discussions and opportunities for questions.
In their discussions, the participants focused on creative collaboration as a key solution to the challenges faced by housing associations. They discussed how these challenges might be alleviated by really listening to tenants and putting them at the heart of decisions in the difficult year(s) ahead.
I found the keynote speeches informative, positive and thought-provoking. The whole conference was uplifting and well attended by tenants. It shows a growing interest in how attitudes to social housing and engaging with our landlords are changing.
Jane, a Broadland tenant who participated
It’s important for the sector to come together and think deeply about the challenges they are facing at the moment in such unprecedented times. The takeaway from today is a real sense that everyone is up for the challenge that we’re facing. Despite the great difficulties for housing associations, for tenants, everyone is up for thinking about how they are going to address these challenges and to make sure we are doing our very best for all of our tenants.
Hilary Burkitt, Director of Housing IFF Research
The event was organised by Independent East, an informal alliance of five community‐focused housing associations in the East of England – Broadland Housing, Freebridge Community Housing, Havebury Housing Partnership, Saffron Housing Trust, and Orwell Housing Association.
Independent East will continue to work collaboratively together and with tenants to address common issues, sharing ideas and best practice to continually improve services and better the lives of their customers.
