About us

Castle Morpeth Housing was formed in October 2007 after the transfer of over 2,200 former council properties and housing services. The move came after an overwhelming 87.4% tenant vote in favour of the transfer, believed to be the biggest-ever Yes vote on a Large Scale Voluntary Transfer. The transfer unlocks the door to a £120 million investment programme over the next 30 years, improving homes, neighbourhoods and services to the level Castle Morpeth Housing tenants deserve.

Castle Morpeth Housing is part of the Isos Housing Group, which also includes NomadE5 and Milecastle Housing. In November 2009, we moved from Longhirst, Morpeth, to our new office accomodation in Sanderson Arcade in the centre of Morpeth, making us much more accessible to residents.

The new office has a dedicated interview room so you can enquire about issues in a confidential environment and there is public internet access so tenants can bid for properties within the Northumberland Homefinder scheme (commonly known as the Choice Based Lettings scheme). There is also a confidential paper-waste disposal system which residents can use free of charge.

We are committed to delivering extensive improvements to our tenants' homes and our housing services:

• Improving homes - we'll meet or exceed the Government's Decent Homes standard by bringing all homes up to the Castle Morpeth Housing Standard within five years of the
  transfer
• Enhancing neighbourhoods - we'll spend £1.28m on environmental works to improve tidiness, lighting, security and general appearance
• Improving services - we'll provide a more responsive service on the issues important to our tenants, including improving our repairs service and response times, providing a Handy Van service and developing a welcome pack for new tenants
• Developing services for older people - we'll develop new services which our older residents require and update and refurbish our sheltered housing schemes
• Involving tenants - we've employed a dedicated Resident Liaison Officer to encourage tenants to take an active role in decision-making, developing local policies and developing the housing service
• Tackling anti-social behaviour - we're responding to our tenants' request to take a firm-but-fair approach through appointing two dedicated officers, who make sure all tenants
  know their responsibilities and work with other agencies to help prevent, identify and deal promptly with nuisance and crime
• Investing in customer service - we're working with our staff to ensure high quality services and sympathetic approaches to dealing with tenants' concerns
• Increasing accessibility - we'll have a local housing office, handling all housing matters, in the Dransfield development, Morpeth, from mid-late 2008

We are committed to delivering housing standards above government targets, and creating and maintaining the highest possible levels of accommodation and support services. We will invest £32 million over the next five years on an extensive programme of maintenance and improvements to tenants' homes and estates, and we will encourage increased tenant involvement in decision-making and numerous service improvements.

These improvements will be maintained through a fully-funded 30 year Business Plan. Working with a wide range of partners, including Northumberland County Council Opens in a new window and other stakeholders in the area, will be critical to the delivery of our ambitious aims.