Hellens Group

Hellens Residential is delivering 11 new affordable homes in Newbottle, giving local people the opportunity to get on the housing ladder.

The social housing provider purchased the new houses from Holyhead Homes as it continues its commitment to developing sustainable communities across the North East.

With support from Sunderland City Council and the Homes England Affordable Homes Programme, Hellens Residential is providing nine of the homes through its popular Rent to Buy tenure.

Rent to Buy is an affordable home ownership product, approved by Homes England, offering a way onto the property ladder for working households struggling to raise a deposit to purchase a home outright. Homes are offered for rent to potential purchasers at an affordable rate, giving customers the opportunity to save for a deposit at the same time. After five years they have the opportunity to purchase their home outright.

The housing site also represents a wider ambition to regenerate the Houghton and Newbottle area with parent company, Hellens Group set to begin work on developing a new retail park on the former Houghton Colliery site.

Now in its 50^th year of business, Hellens Group is working on several major infrastructure projects across the North of England, including the development of the the Burtree Garden village in Darlington, which recently received £43 million of crucial funding from Homes England. The funding will help provide an additional 2,000 homes to the area and will be built over a 20-year period.

Kate Hellens, Managing Director of Hellens Residential said: “We are delighted to be delivering more affordable housing in the North East and it’s great that people in Newbottle can have the option to benefit from our Rent to Buy tenure.

“We have had exceptionally high demand for the properties, including two homes which are being provided on an affordable rent basis.”

Cllr Graeme Miller, leader of Sunderland City Council, said: “We are delighted to be supporting Hellens Residential on this project, which will bring much-needed affordable housing stock to Newbottle.

“As a local authority, we’re investing over £59 million into the delivery of new housing for residents through our Housing Delivery and Investment Plan and this is yet another great example of how we’re embracing partnership working as a Council to help improve the lives our residents.”

ENDS

Contact Josh Mason 01325 363436

Notes to Editors:

Hellens Residential Limited is a Registered Provider of Affordable Homes and operates through the North East, Tees Valley and Yorkshire.

We develop our own new build houses, flats and bungalows which are made available for affordable rent, shared ownership lease/shared equity sale and on a Rent to Buy basis.

Our mission :-

• To develop sustainable, affordable communities
• To provide high quality homes
• Give excellent customer service.
• Help improve the lives of our customers by creating a comfortable and secure environment to live in.

We are regulated by the Regulator of Social Housing as a Private Registered Provider of Social Housing.