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Newlon Housing Trust

Working for communities

Working with and for communities
We work with residents and community partners across north and east London to promote social, environmental, and economic well-being. 
Here are some of the ways we support those aims:

Community hubs
We manage community hubs at the Barnsbury Estate in Islington and in Limehouse, which provide a base for a wide range of community activities, which are open to Newlon residents as well as members of the wider community.
We provide a community garden at the Barnsbury Estate where we work in partnership with local organisations, including the Islington Bangladesh Association, to offer horticulture programmes, as well as providing a peaceful green space open to everyone in the community.

Supporting people with additional needs
Newlon provides around 650 homes for people with additional needs, including adults with mental health and learning disabilities, people on the autism spectrum, older people and young people in need of housing support.
The majority of these residents are supported by Outward, our Group’s specialist care and support provider. Outward additionally provide care and support for people living independently in the community or with other housing providers.
Outward’s community engagement, volunteering and co-production team run a wide range of activities and groups including:

  • Running a team of volunteers for projects to support people with additional needs including learning disabilities and autism. Recent projects include art, nutrition, sexual health and nutrition workshops and drama groups. They currently providing boxing classes and are running a breast cancer campaign with a specialist charity working to support people and staff to better understand potential symptoms and offer preventative advice. They also recruit befrienders for residents.
  • Hub Club, based in the heart of Hackney, is a day club for adults with learning disabilities and autism. It’s open to anyone in London and members are involved in a variety of fun and engaging activities.
  • Nutley Edge, is a unique supported holiday location in East Sussex which provides residential activity breaks for adults from north and east London with additional needs.
  • Outward provide specialist care and support services for 1,000 vulnerable adults in north and east London helping them to fulfil their potential and live as independently as possible.

Community partnerships
We work in collaboration with a range of community partners to help support our residents and the communities where they live.
Some of these collaborations include:

  • Working with the Engine Room Homework Club – supporting children with academic needs in the Tottenham Hale area.
  • Supporting a range of local foodbanks – including providing six months of low-cost food for families in need in Hackney and Islington and providing a base for the Tottenham foodbank at Tottenham Town Hall.
  • Working with Suited & Booted / Dress for Success – helping residents dress confidently for interviews and new jobs.
  • Working with Time to Grow Hackney – enabling residents to grow fresh produce, shared with volunteers and soup kitchens.
  • Working with The Little Village – supplying essential items for newborns, especially for families with no recourse to public funds.
  • Working in partnership with Solace Women’s Aid – supporting families escaping domestic abuse.
  • Working with the Islington Bangladesh Association and a wide range of community partners at the Barnsbury Community Centre in Islington.
  • Supporting the Haringey Play Association.
  • Working with Pedal Power.
  • Working with Arsenal in the Community.

We also work in close partnership with organisations including the London Fire Brigade, the Metropolitan police, local authorities to develop and maintain approaches to community safety.

The L12 supporting communities
Newlon is a member of the L12, a diverse collective of community-focused housing associations in London. The L12 are dedicated to tackling the city’s housing crisis and uplifting its communities.
The L12’s members are deeply embedded in the neighbourhoods they serve, fostering close connections with residents and staying attuned to local challenges and opportunities.
The L12 is currently campaigning on issues including building safety, tackling London’s homelessness crisis, supporting increased regeneration and the importance of supported housing for our communities.

Protecting the environment
We are committed to supporting the environment, meeting net zero ambitions and increasing bio-diversity.
You can find more detail about this in our annual ESG report.
Our approaches to this include meeting targets to increase biodiversity on all new housing development, managing and enhancing green spaces, developing low carbon footprint energy infrastructure, retrofitting existing housing to increase energy efficiency and working to bring all our housing up to minimum energy efficiency standards (EPC level C) by 2030.