The Newlon Story...

Starts in 1967 when philanthropic members of the New London Synagogue decided to club together to buy properties that could be rented at affordable rates by local people in need of decent homes. The need for affordable housing had been pushed to the forefront of public consciousness by the scandal associated with the notorious slum landlord Peter Rachman and the BBC TV Play 'Cathy Come Home' which highlighted the harsh reality of homelessness. 

In 1968 Newlon Housing Trust was formally set up and we acquired our first two properties in Amhurst Road and Evering Road in Hackney. These two properties cost £10,500 to acquire, by contrast the Ashburton Triangle, which stands next to Emirates Stadium and was completed in 2006 cost £33 million to construct and provides homes for more than 500 people. We still own the two houses in Amhurst Road and Evering Road today, along with 6,000 others. Each month during 2008 we will be updating this page with another chapter in the Newlon Story, so why not check in from time to time to follow how we have grown into the organisation we are today!

      

 Evering Road today                                Amhurst Road today

Newlon firsts....

During our 40 years we have grown by finding new ways to support people and doing many things for the first time…

Our first Supported Housing schemes

Newlon provides supported housing for people who need additional care and support in their lives. We work in partnership with our sister organisation Outward, a specialist care and support provider, to help people with additional support needs to reach their full potential. We opened our first scheme for people with special needs in 1976 and in 1986 we acquired the old Mother’s Hospital site in Hackney, which at the time became our biggest new build programme. It included the development of a new scheme for the elderly which was opened by HRH Prince Charles (pictured).

Our first stock transfer

In 1999 the residents of the Barnsbury estate in Islington voted to become Newlon residents in our first stock transfer. There are nearly 700 homes on the Barnsbury estate which we manage in partnership with BELMO, a tenant led management organisation.

Building sustainable communities

We are committed to more than building and managing affordable housing. In Bekesbourne Street in Limehouse we built our first Community Centre. The John Scurr, Community Centre, which is managed for the local community by the charity TocH, which works to reduce social exclusion.

Helping you find your first home

As well as affordable rented housing we provide Shared Ownership, part-buy/part-rent homes to help people get onto the property ladder for the first time, and affordable rented homes for Key Workers. We have just completed our first Social Homebuy, a government initiative, helping people to buy the homes they live in.

 




















Mr Sondh, proud owner of his own home, following our first completed Social Homebuy.

We hope that we can achieve many more firsts over the next 40 years and continue to support the communities of north and east London.