Affordable Housing, Cartledge House Farm, Great Hucklow, SK17 8RG, United Kingdom
Housing Associations
There are more than 1800 Housing Associations in England that currently manage around 1.7 million homes and provide affordable housing for nearly 4 million people.
Housing Associations are run as businesses but they do not trade for profit. Any surplus profit is ploughed back into the Housing Association to maintain existing homes and to help finance new ones.
Many Housing Associations are small and own fewer than 250 houses whilst there are also larger Housing Associations that own several thousand homes.
Generally, people housed by Housing Associations are those defined as being in 'housing need' but eligibility criteria differ. Some Housing Associations, for instance, specialise in providing affordable housing for those who need special support such as people with mental illness or drug problems. All housing associations must have written policies on the type of housing services they provide, who can apply for affordable housing and how applications will be considered. You can ask to see these policies. Housing associations take the majority of their new tenants from local housing authorities’ waiting lists, so it is usually best to contact your local council housing department in the first instance.
As well as providing affordable housing for rent some Housing Associations also help people to buy their own homes.
The Right To Acquire scheme gives eligible tenants of Registered Social Landlords the right to buy their property at a discount. You may also be eligible for the Social HomeBuy scheme which offers help to buy a share of the market value of your home. For more information on this see our section on Shared Ownership.
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