People living in properties managed by one of Nottinghamshire's biggest housing associations say there is a "strong sense of community" among its tenants. The Nottingham Community Housing Association (NCHA) is celebrating its 50th anniversary after having started in April 1973 with a loan from Nottingham City Council and a small grant from Shelter.
The company has continued to grow and now runs an estate of 10,000 homes across the East Midlands. Some of those living in them have been sharing what life is like as NCHA marks its milestone birthday.
One of the key parts of the association's operation is its network of almshouses, often described as the oldest form of social housing. NCHA runs these almshouses under the charitable wing of the business, with one of those living in them being 64-year-old Ron Dakin.
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Mr Dakin said: "I've been with NCHA since 2014 and they've been really helpful because when I worked in Newark as was able to get a place there, but I was then easily able to get into my current place on Woodborough Road in Nottingham. The history of the almshouses is fascinating but they're also really nice places to live in.
"I've won the lottery really given that we're in a cost of living crisis because we have a communal boiler where we are so it's really cheap and you can have the heating on 24/7, which I sometimes need to because the almshouse ceilings are very high and the heat obviously rises. There's a really friendly feel about where I live too and I get on really well with everybody."
Nottinghamshire Live recently reported on NCHA's Chief Executive, Paul Moat, outlining the association's need to cut back on the amount of social housing it builds due to challenging economic conditions. But Mr Moat also said NCHA retained its ambition to expand and to maintain services for current residents.
One of those is Simon Leyden, 61, an NCHA tenant on Beechdale road. He said: "The property I'm in is very good and there's about 20 of us living there, and I think all of us neighbours have been getting to know each other quite well. NCHA have obviously got a very long history of social housing and I've certainly had a very good experience with them.
"I also act as the Chair of their Homes and Neighbourhoods Panel. That is essentially there to provide constant feedback from NCHA customers to the association and I have to say that they've always been very responsive to that and keen to hear it."
Mirella Palazzo, 60, moved into NCHA's Pelham Waterside development in 2020. Pelham Waterside is one of the developments that NCHA developed under its commercial arm, where properties are sold for profit, which is then re-invested back into social housing.
Mirella said: "It's a great place to be for me and my partner and I'd say we've actually got a really diverse mix of people living in our development. We have got a strong sense of community and we actually had a little street party when a few of us had moved in for us all to get to know each other."
One of NCHA's oldest residents is 94-year-old Ossie Roberts, who lives in the Ben Mayo Court development in Radford. The development was born out of a partnership between Nottingham City Council, NCHA and two other housing associations to regenerate Radford in the late 1980s.
Mr Roberts was one of the first residents of the new flats in 1992 and speaking about living there, he said: "I've lived in Radford since 1965 and it's changed a lot since then. It was mostly flats before, but it's improved a lot.
"There's good and bad everywhere you go, but I live living in this area. This is my home. A lot of us are pensioners, but we've got a lot of independence. I like keeping myself busy."
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