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Summer 2024
A message from Tracy Allison, our Chief Executive
Welcome to our summer edition of Stakeholder News, put together especially for our partners.
As we were finalising this newsletter we began digesting the policy announcements from the newly elected Labour Government. Matthew Pennycook, Minister of State for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has outlined plans to address the housing crisis which recognises ‘increasing supply as an essential part of improving affordability’ and importantly notes that 'mixed use sites, which can comprise a variety of ownership and rental tenures including rented affordable housing and build to rent, provide a range of benefits – creating diverse communities and supporting timely build out rates’.
It is also to be welcomed that they are encouraging Homes England to maximise the number of Social Rent homes in allocating the remaining funding in the current Affordable Homes Programme. West Kent remains keen to play our part and I'm delighted to share we've recently secured £50m of new funding from Nationwide together with an update on our Castor Park development.
Over the coming months we can expect more information on the plans from Government, and our hope is for a long term commitment on policies covering rents, benefits and grant funding. More certainty on funding will allow us to better plan for the future and to continue to deliver more of the fantastic outcomes (below) that I am proud to share with you to mark the ’35 years of West Kent’.
As we head into the summer I thought you’d enjoy hearing what some of our residents, staff and board members said when asked: "what does West Kent mean to you in 3 words?"
I hope you enjoy the news from around West Kent. Keep an eye out on our website and LinkedIn page to hear more stories from our residents and staff.
Best wishes,
Tracy
Tracy Allison, Chief Executive, West Kent
tracy.allison@wkha.org.uk, 01732 749415
35 years of West Kent - Melvin’s path to housing stability
Melvin Harwood, a resident for over 30 years, shares his journey from living in his car in Edenbridge to finding stability and a sense of community in a West Kent home.
35 years of West Kent – Veronica's story
Colleague and resident, Veronica, shares some of her experiences and memories from over the years.
Castor Park - an update on our biggest development in three decades
Earlier this year we announced Castor Park, our biggest development in three decades. We now have full planning permission to build 106 affordable homes on the site, which are set to be built by 2026.
We're celebrating our 1000th shared ownership home!
We've reached the exciting milestone of 1,000 shared ownership homes with the handover of our Church Road, Otham development, delivered in partnership with Bellway Homes. Shared owner, Melanie, shares her story.
Mental Health Awareness Week marks two years of wellbeing walks at Beeches!
Staff and resident at our over 55s scheme, Beeches, come together with volunteers from family, friends and the local community for their third annual wellbeing walk.
Complaints and service improvement report
We've published a report that sets out how we’re complying with the updated Complaints Handling Code, and how we plan to make sure we change our services and ways of working to provide a better service to residents in the future.
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