Housing association provides affordable homes for workers

Nationally, housing associations own around six million properties providing homes for a large proportion of the workforce.

Riverside, a not-for-profit organisation with its headquarters based in Liverpool, is one of these, managing 75,000 properties nationally, including around 9800 in Cumbria where it employs close to 250 people.

In August 2018, Riverside merged with Impact Housing, resulting in a combined portfolio of properties across the whole county. This includes general needs housing - what is commonly referred to as social housing - and care and support services. Riverside’s Care and Support services in Cumbria deliver support for young people through the Eden Foyer in Penrith, South Lakes Foyer in Kendal, Whitehaven Foyer and Carlisle Foyer.

The foyers provide a range of services, including accommodation for young people along with training opportunities to assist them into employment; they also include affordable office space which is used by small businesses or new business start-ups as well as having a range of meeting rooms which are available to hire.

Andrea Thorn, who lives in Whitehaven, joined Impact Housing following the merger with Riverside and supported the integration of the two businesses which completed in October 2021. She is now Riverside’s director of homes and communities.

Andrea says, contrary to what some may think, Riverside’s properties mainly provide homes for working people who play a vital part in the local economy.

"We provide general needs housing for those in housing need," says Andrea.

"Nationally, we also provide care and support services for people experiencing homelessness, including specialist services for veterans. We're one of the largest national providers of supported housing in the country and also have a

large portfolio of older peoples’ accommodation as well as some brilliantly designed extra care schemes. We’ve just started on site with the development of a large extra care scheme in Workington that will provide 79 apartments and 28 bungalows.”

It also helps people become homeowners, through various schemes such as shared ownership or low cost sales.

Although priority for empty homes goes to homeless households, a lot of people choose to live in general needs housing for a variety of reasons.

"For some, they may be ready for independence and looking for their first home but don’t yet have the means to purchase on the open market; others may be living in the private rented sector and want the security of having a lifetime tenancy rather than a short-term tenancy with no guarantees of renewal and living with the constant risk of losing their home” says Andrea.

“People make an active choice to live in social housing as their preferred tenure. There's lots of benefits that come from having a Government regulated landlord.”

These include affordable rents based on a rent standard set by the Government, as well as the certainty of having a home that meets the Government’s Decent Homes Standard with a repairs service as well as regular investment in homes.

“Once you're in the property the tenancy is yours and you can live there as long as you want, all we ask in return is that our customers comply with the requirements of their tenancy,” says Andrea.

"We work with our customers to ensure that they do have a home for life, offering a range of services to assist customers as their life changes over the years. We can provide aids and adaptations to the property to assist with any disabilities; we work with our customers as their family grows and they might need to move into larger accommodation or later in life when their family have moved out and they are ready to downsize into a smaller home or make the move into older persons services.

"We offer services to our customers all the way through the lifecycle of a tenancy, which for some, could be a lifetime. We have some customers who have five decades of tenure with us.”

Andrea says the housing provides homes for people in all walks of life.

"Some people have a perception of social housing and our customers which doesn’t match reality. The majority of our customers are no different to you and me; they have lovely homes, work hard and take care of their families.”

Without the support of housing associations like Riverside, Andrea says providing homes for the Cumbrian workforce would be even more challenging than it already is.

This is particularly true within the national park, rural villages and towns such as Kendal and Penrith where housing demand outstrip supply and house prices are unaffordable for a lot of people.

As well as providing a roof over the heads of those working in local businesses, Riverside is itself a major employer.

This includes the 92 who work for its subsidiary Evolve in the Carlisle area, which provides repairs, maintenance and gas servicing for its homes across Cumbria.

However, it also uses local contractors for more specialist tasks such as asbestos surveys and fire risk assessments.

"We have a whole section within a tender which is just focused on social value and what social value that contractor will bring to us for the benefit of our customers and communities," says Andrea.

"This can include offering apprenticeships and employment opportunities; it could include volunteering or work experience opportunities; sometimes it's about providing their skills and labour within a local community to support with initiatives such as redecorating a community centre.”

Alongside this, the network of foyers also fill a valuable role by helping young people into employment and providing space for use by businesses.

"At Eden Foyer, for example, we have lots of small businesses who have entered into long-term leases of office accommodation who can then also hire the additional meeting rooms which are available in the building,” says Andrea.

“With a number of different small businesses all working together in one

building, it can create a business hub where they can share experiences and learn from each other as well as creating an employment hub in the town. Each foyer has their own business model, depending on the requirements of the local community.”

Alongside this, Andrea says the organisation also contributes to the local economy through investment.

"We spend a large amount on developing new homes, investing in our existing homes and on directly employing people,” says Andrea.

“We make a substantial contribution to the Cumbrian economy, not just the directly funded activities but also indirectly too through the range of contractors we employ to support our delivery plans and through purchasing supplies locally from other businesses. Add to that the directly employed staff who deliver the full range of services we provide to customers, and it's big numbers.

"We aim to procure locally and spend money locally so we are continuously reinvesting back into the local economy wherever we can.”

Andrea says the need for the services it provides looks set to grow as the cost of living increases.

To help with some of the issues, the organisation has an independent charitable trust, Riverside Foundation. In April 2022, Riverside made a commitment to increase its investment into the Riverside Foundation to £2.5m annually.

As part of this people can apply to its Helping Hands Fund for grants of up to £500 in crisis situations while communities can apply to its £250,000 Community Fund to help projects that promote opportunities and wellbeing.

As the winter bites Riverside are also looking into setting up “warm hubs”.

"We'll do what we can to provide people with a space where they can go to get warm, where they can get a hot drink, maybe a bite to eat, and just sit and have a chat with other people that are in a similar situations before going back into their home again,” says Andrea.

It is planning to create one such warm hub in The Oval Centre, in Workington, which is run by the local community with help from grants from Riverside Foundation.

"We need to do what we can to try to take the pressure off customers who are feeling the financial burden of the current cost of living crisis," says Andrea.