A SCOTTISH letting agency that has given hundreds of low-income people a home to live in has won a top UN award.
Homes For Good, based in Glasgow, transformed empty homes in the city and housed 1000 people on low incomes in high-quality homes.
The firm buys and renovated neglected homes before letting them to people on low salaries or at risk of homelessness.
The World Habitat Awards, which are organised by World Habitat in partnership with UN-Habitat, recognise and highlight innovative, outstanding, and revolutionary housing ideas, projects and programmes from across the world.
Homes For Good will receive £10,000 and the opportunity to share its knowledge of the sector at an international event, which will be organised alongside World Habitat.
The firm said: “Homes For Good was founded in 2013, to improve conditions in the private rented sector for tenants and landlords and to support, people on low incomes to access quality homes in the private rental sector.
“It has since raised £20 million in social investment and has bought and developed more than 330 homes.”
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Besides renovating the homes, the firm also offers interior designers to work with tenants to create a home they “feel proud to live in”, engages with tenants on issues wider than housing, and provides programmes to improve well-being, reduce isolation and the opportunity to develop new skills.
Susan Aktemel, Homes for Good founder said: “We are absolutely thrilled and honoured to win this global award.
“Developing a new approach and business model to raise standards in the private rented sector has taken a huge amount of work and determination since we started in 2013.
“As we reach our 10th birthday, we still have significant work to do, and winning the Gold Habitat Award is a huge endorsement and motivator for us to keep going.”
Maimunah Mohd Sharif, UN-Habitat executive director, said as housing and living costs are rising globally and increasing the risk for many to fall into homelessness and informality, ensuring adequate housing is a shared responsibility of all housing stakeholders.
She said: “In the case of Homes for Good, we appreciate the full role of the private sector stepping up to provide affordable housing to low-income people, embracing housing in its social function and human rights status.”
Leilani Farha, the World Habitat Awards judge, said Homes for Good challenges the idea that a good return on investment in housing requires steep rents.
“Instead, they’ve developed an effective business model investing in buildings which they upgrade and provide at affordable rates for people with the lowest incomes.
“At a time when decent, low-cost housing is scant, Homes for Good is exactly the type of social enterprise the world needs more of.”
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