Yorkshire Housing, one of the country’s largest social housing providers, has secured a £77million deal with NatWest to help develop an additional 8,000 affordable homes by 2030.
Yorkshire Housing, which currently owns and manages 20,000 affordable and social rent homes across 20 local authorities, aims to increase its portfolio by around 20% in the next eight years, providing more energy efficient homes for local people.
The £77million NatWest funding package will also enable the business to ramp up its efforts to decarbonise existing homes ahead of government targets through its retrofit scheme, which sees existing properties fitted out with sustainable technologies such as heat pumps and solar panels.
This will allow Yorkshire Housing to continue to work towards its ambitions to become one of the UK’s first housing associations to stop using gas heating and hot water systems altogether in new build homes, meaning the housing association can decrease its carbon footprint while minimising the impact of rising energy prices for residents.
To further support customers with the rising cost of living, Yorkshire Housing also provides solutions to help tenants manage their living costs by offering budgeting and benefits advice.
Last year, Yorkshire Housing’s Money Coaching Service supported a total of 446 tenants to access more than £1million in grants and unclaimed entitlements.
Andy Oldale, Executive Director Finance & Governance at Yorkshire Housing, said: “In the midst of the current cost of living crisis, it’s more important than ever to provide affordable housing across Yorkshire. The funding from NatWest will allow us to build more homes, and will also enable us to make improve the energy efficiency of some of our existing homes to make them cheaper to live in. At a time of rising energy prices this is vital for our customers. We’re extremely grateful to NatWest for sharing our vision to support the local community and create even more affordable housing across Yorkshire.”
Andrew Dexter, Director Real Estate Finance at NatWest, said: “NatWest is dedicated to supporting our customers, colleagues and communities in Yorkshire. The amazing work that Yorkshire Housing is doing to create more affordable and sustainable homes across the region is paramount and we’ll continue to work closely with Nick and the team to provide the support they need as they continue to thrive.”
