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About
Barrhead Housing Association is a local provider of high quality, affordable, rented housing. The association’s mission is to be ‘At the heart of our community – investing in your future’.
With 958 homes for social rent, we provide homes for around 2,500 people, a factoring services to 270 owners, and a service to 750 applicants for housing. Hundreds of local people are involved in our community activities every year.
Barrhead Housing was a finalist for Neighbourhood Transformation at the Aico/Homelink Community Awards 2022 and Independent Business of the Year Runner Up at the 2022 All About Barrhead Awards.
What we do
Our Homes
The Association provides general needs housing and also specialised housing including sheltered housing, wheelchair housing and housing for the elderly. 
Set up as a registered social landlord in 1986, the Association’s initial aim was to improve the tenemental properties in the centre of Barrhead and we soon thereafter started a programme of building new properties for rent. Now the majority of our homes are newbuild. In 2001, we successfully transferred 245 homes from Scottish Homes and quickly completed the key improvements required, which included the demolition of properties in Auchenback which have been replaced with new terraced houses and flats. In 2004 we became a registered Scottish charity. We are now the key locally controlled housing association owning 958 properties through East Renfrewshire, although mainly in Barrhead, Neilston, Newton Mearns and Thornliebank. The Association has a strong track record in the delivery of affordable housing, through partnership working with a range of private developers, East Renfrewshire Council, and the Scottish Government. This includes 12 new affordable homes provided in partnership with Taylor Wimpey in August 2020, and 10 with Bellway in 2021.
A new innovative Preventative Maintenance Service model was designed and introduced in 2021. This service carries out a regular inspection of every property to identify and deal with property issues proactively before they become larger and more expensive problems.
The Association is a major delivery partner for East Renfrewshire Council’s Strategic Housing Investment Plan, with an active new house building programme in place. During 2022/23, 8 new homes will be completed at Dealston Road and 12 at Weavers Lea. In total, 45 new homes are planned for completion by 2023.
A new Asset Strategy and action plan was approved by the Board in 2021, with key priorities for the coming year including delivery of the bathroom and kitchen programme, carrying out a Stock Condition Survey, refining of the 30 year life cycle costings and programme, implementation of a new approach to asset appraisals, and scoping of options for delivery of low carbon and carbon neutral homes across all of the Association’s property types.
Our Communities
We aim through community activities to promote health and improvement to the quality of people’s lives, to contribute to the local economy and to support our local community.
We secured almost £600,000 of external funding between 2018 and 2021 for our local communities. This facilitated the Brighter Future Barrhead initiative which empowered local residents and enhanced their health and wellbeing by tackling poverty and inequality through a co-ordinated partner and community volunteer approach, and distribution of resources to 14 vital partner community support agencies responding to the challenges created by Covid-19. In 2021/22 we were successful in delivering fuel grants, Christmas gifts, ipads and digital support eco crafting workshops, a free monthly book for children of our tenants and support for parents.
BHA was the first housing association in Scotland to sign up to the Board Charter to Community Investment which commits us to placing community investment as core to our role as a housing association and central to our social purpose. Our Community Investment Strategy 2021-25 has 6 priorities:
- Tackle inequality and poverty
- Reduce social isolation and exclusion
- Create employment and training opportunities
- Digital engagement and inclusion
- Support community hubs and community led activity
- Enhance health and wellbeing of communities.
A new Community Investment Team is responsible for delivery of the strategy, provision of welfare advice and tenancy readiness services and for developing and overseeing the Association’s range of methods for engaging with and connecting with customers and communities. The Association has established innovative approaches to community involvement, engagement and investment, including use of tools such as co design, participatory budgeting to empower local people to choose where and how money is spent in their local areas, and the Place Standard.
How we operate
The Association is run by a made up of local residents, housing professionals, and local business people. The Governing Board is responsible for ensuring that the Association is in control of its strategic direction, its commitments and services to tenants and residents.
We currently employ 28 people. Our new People Strategy aims to help every Barrhead Housing Association employee reach their full potential, to accomplish our mission ‘At the heart of the community – investing in your future’. In return for the skills and commitment our colleagues bring to BHA – we trust, inspire and support all employees to delight their customers, invest in every employee’s development and wellbeing, and offer an exceptional package of benefits and flexible working.
Our values are central to what we do and how we do it. They incorporate the importance that we place on people, services and quality.
- RESPECTFUL – we are honest, trustworthy and reliable
- ADAPTABLE – we are flexible and react to change
- DEDICATED – we care about our purpose
- ASPIRATIONAL – we are forward thinking and committed to improvement
- RESPONSIVE – we are efficient and accountable.
Our Subsidiary – Levern Property Services, LPS
Levern Property Services Ltd is a subsidiary of Barrhead Housing Association and is a company limited by Share. It was set up in November 2011 to become a commercial trading organisation with all profits being re-invested in Barrhead Housing Association. Barrhead Housing Association is the parent organisation, the only shareholder, with overall control of the subsidiary’s strategic, governance and operational activities. Levern Property Services has no geographical base and will consider services across but not exclusively to the East Renfrewshire local authority area. It has an independent governing Board of 5 local people.
Further information