A North East housing provider has secured further investment to help more of its vulnerable residents benefit from warmer, more energy-efficient homes.
Tyne Housing, which supports vulnerable people experiencing or at risk of homelessness, has been awarded additional funding through the government’s Warm Homes Social Housing Fund after successfully delivering the first year of an energy efficiency programme designed to tackle fuel poverty and reduce carbon emissions across its social housing portfolio.
The work, including upgraded insulation and solar panel installations, forms part of an £8.3m, three-year retrofit programme being delivered by a consortium of five North East housing providers, supported by procurement and collaboration specialists Prosper. Grant funding has been provided by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) delivered by the North East & Yorkshire Net Zero Hub.
Tyne has also received £423,186.92 of the additional funding for Supplementary Solar, allowing the provider to complete solar and/or battery installation to at least 32 homes.
The latest funding will enable Tyne Housing to extend improvements to additional properties, helping more residents enjoy warmer, healthier and more sustainable homes, with energy savings passed on to residents and anticipated reductions in future maintenance costs enabling more investment into providing life-changing support that will help residents and visitors get to a better place. Energy efficiency measures delivered using the funding will include new cavity wall, loft and ceiling insulation, solar panels, internal heating controls, replacement glazing units, air source heat pumps and low carbon lighting amongst other measures depending on a property’s age and individual requirements.
Steve McKinlay, CEO of Tyne Housing, said: “Securing this additional funding is a fantastic endorsement of the work our teams and partners have done over the past year, rolling out the first phase of this project. Achieving all our Year 1 targets meant we were eligible to bid for further investment, and we’re delighted this has now been approved.
“Through the programme, we’re making real improvements to our housing stock, which will help some of the most vulnerable residents stay warm and live a better life. The additional funding means we can extend those benefits to even more homes across Tyneside.”
The UK Government’s Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund (Wave 3) is a £1.29bn scheme aimed at upgrading national housing stock that currently sits below an energy performance certificate (EPC) band C.
The initiative aims to deliver warm, energy-efficient homes, improve the comfort, health and wellbeing of social housing tenants, reduce carbon emissions, support green jobs and develop the retrofit sector, with grant-funded projects to be delivered between 2025 and 2028.
Karen Oliver Spry, Manager of the North East and Yorkshire Net Zero Hub said: “Securing this funding is a result of consortium partners’ delivery to date and demonstrates the scale of ambition across the North East and
Yorkshire to improve social housing, reduce carbon emissions, and support residents to live in warmer, healthier homes.
“With this latest funding allocation, the programme will now support the upgrade of more than 11,000 social homes across the region – taking the total of Hub supported homes close to 20,000 – helping residents benefit from improved comfort, better health and wellbeing, lower energy consumption, and potential savings on household energy bills.
“The programme will also support wider net zero ambitions while creating opportunities for local supply chains and the retrofit sector across the region.”
The North East and Yorkshire Net Zero Hub is part of a national network of hubs in England, funded and directed by the UK Government’s Department of Energy Security and Net Zero to support local areas implement their local energy strategies, and to support delivery of the government’s Clean Energy 2030 ambition and key national policy such as the Warm Homes Plan and the Local Power Plan.
Residents whose homes have been selected for Year 2 improvements will be contacted directly by Tyne Housing with further information about the planned works.
