4,000 home milestone reached at housing provider

Yorkshire housing association, 54North Homes, has achieved its 4,000 homes milestone – thanks to a £26.5m investment in new developments over the last 18 months.

54North Homes, a subsidiary of the Karbon Homes Group, was formed in December 2022 through a merger between Leeds and Yorkshire Housing Association and York Housing Association.

Its strategy of growing the number of new homes it owns and manages has seen its housing stock increase by 25%, taking it from 3,200 at merger to more than 4,000.

Recent handovers of new properties took the tally to nearly 3,950 – and then flagship scheme Leonora House completed the milestone.

Leonora House is on Railway Street, Leeds, and comprises 58 apartments for social rent. It is due to be officially opened on 28 November.

Joanna Chambers, director of assets and growth, said: “One of our key aims is provide as many good quality homes as we can.

“We’ve created a development strategy that enables us to play a significant part in addressing affordable housing supply issues across Yorkshire.

“We’re pleased to have reached this important milestone, which has been a challenging task against a background of rising inflation, supply chain difficulties and planning challenges.

“With tens of thousands of people across Yorkshire on social housing waiting lists, our push to deliver more affordable homes has never been more important.”

In total this year, 54North Homes will add nearly 160 new properties across Yorkshire to its expanding portfolio.

It also manages new affordable homes developed across the county by parent company Karbon Homes.

Many of the new properties built for the two housing associations are delivered with funding from Homes England.

Joanna Chambers

Karbon Homes has a strategic partnership with the Government’s housing delivery agency – which is providing £165m for 2,200 new affordable across the North East and Yorkshire by 2026.

Chambers added: “It’s been a combined effort of both development teams from 54North Homes and Karbon.

“We’re jointly working across the Yorkshire region, and it’s through the relationships we’ve built with the local authorities, developers and contractors that’s helped us capitalise on opportunities to build more affordable homes.

“We offer a range of property types and sizes and a mix of tenure options for customers – we don’t have a one-size-fits-all approach because there’s different income brackets across the region.

“We’re delivering social rent for those on the lowest income brackets in greatest need, alongside Shared Ownership and Rent to Buy for people who can’t access a mortgage for the full value of a property, but who still have aspirations towards home ownership.”