Like many housing associations, Worthing Homes faces a lack of suitable sites for development. But that doesn't hold it back as it strives to make the most of opportunities

Over the last two years Worthing Homes has successfully put together 170 homes around the town. The process has resulted not just in new places to live for local people but has significantly aided the regeneration of redundant structures and the surrounding neighbourhoods.

The noteworthy phrase is 'capacity building' - increasing the number of homes for rent, or the provision of affordable properties for key workers in Worthing, and otherwise making the most of the sites and opportunities that exist for development. That is the very essence of what Worthing has striven to achieve since it was born in 1999.

Taken further, it applies beyond the bricks and mortar of urban living - to the people who live within them. In this respect, it's about 'building the capacity' of people or, to put it another way, empowering tenants and residents with skills, training and advice to develop their own capabilities and open the avenues of opportunity.

It's all part and parcel of what the housing association is striving to do in order to make a real difference to both Worthing as a civic entity and the residents who live within its 3,500 or so properties.

"Land supply is quite an issue in Worthing," said Moira James, the RSL's housing and care director. "We've very much been looking at brownfield sites and regenerating areas that were previously not up to current standards, with some really well-designed and attractive buildings." Phoenix House is one such award-winning development on the gateway into the town.

The 23 flats and two houses made available at affordable rent were aimed with local people in mind. As the organisation points out, Worthing, like anywhere else, needs people to work in its shops, restaurants, hospitals and schools but, with an average house price in the region of £225,000, current dips and wobbles in the market not withstanding, that price tag puts living space somewhat beyond the means of people who make a town a town.

That's not an unfamiliar story, of course, but it does mean that every affordable home - whether it is social rented, shared ownership, or 'intermediate' rent, between social and full market rents, is a precious necessity.

Two of the flats in the above example were earmarked specifically for local hospital staff and a further two were designed to be wheelchair accessible. Behind the main complex, the site of an old MOT station was used to create a further wheelchair accessible bungalow and nine new houses.

Elsewhere, the company has been playing its part to regenerate the area around Worthing's railway station on Victoria Road by constructing two blocks of flats - one with 18 flats and the other with 21.

Nearby, on Angola Road, a further development created another 12 flats. Each of these developments has seen disused buildings replaced with new residential structures, the intention being to enable younger people to stay in their own area, contribute to the local economy and have families of their own. Over the next two years, it is looking to invest in producing some 100 homes per year to further boost housing supply.

In its drive to develop more homes, the RSL isn't limiting itself solely to the Worthing town limits. Working together with Arun District Council and the Housing Corporation, the RSL has recently completed a scheme in Littlehampton. The Solo and Waverly Courts provided 22 one and two-bedroomed flats for rent. They were built on the site of an old laundry, after the original dilapidated building had been torn down.

"We've been developing a mix of about 30 per cent shared ownership and the rest for social rent," Moira added. "But we have also been looking at building key worker properties. We also have some developments that are actually intermediate rent. That is intended to ensure we provide housing opportunities for the whole range of people. There is really quite a gap between being able to access social rent and owner occupation."

Making the most of opportunity is not something restricted to bricks and mortar but is also applied to the human factor of the company's business. Worthing Homes works with a range of partners to provide training and advice services for residents and also organises activities such as after-school homework sessions for youngsters, creative writing
sessions, adult literacy, computer training and more.

"We have a resource centre where we provide a whole range of training initiatives not only for our residents but for anyone living in the Worthing area," Moira said.

"We've got Learn Direct training ongoing there, where we can provide basic skills, Skills for Life, or NVQs. We also provide a lot of advice in the centre, such as pensions advice and the Benefits Agency on site to provide advice to people.

“We've been able to ensure that this building is actually used seven days a week to provide opportunities and capacity building for people in Worthing - that is to help them to build skills and enable them to take advantage of employment or further training opportunities."

One of its newer services, established in July 2007, is Red Assure - a telecare service that provides care and support to vulnerable people, allowing them to remain independent in their own home. This is, essentially, a fully kitted out and vastly upgraded version of Care Line (a basic alarm service) that has run for some eight years. Under the Red Assure guise, it provides a range of monitoring devices such as falls detectors, which can automatically call for assistance.

Not only does it help infirm or elderly people to remain in their own homes longer, it also assists the local NHS by allowing people to be discharged from hospital earlier.

As with training, this telecare scheme is available to people in the wider community, rather than just the RSL's tenants. To date, it has helped some 1,500 people in the community, above and beyond those living in a Worthing Homes property.

"Resident involvement is something we're very committed to. It's the key to our success. We've always had tenants on our board. We've got a residents panel, which we use for consultation and to review our processes to help us continually improve,"

Moira said: "If you look at us as an organisation, our unique selling point is our focus on the local community, doing things with and investing in the local community, and actually being accountable to the local community - to make sure that what we do is of a high quality for the people in this coastal area."

The organisation's self-confidence is no idle boast. An external status survey carried out by the NHF last year found that 95 per cent of tenants considered Worthing Homes to be a good landlord. Out of the 60 per cent returns gained in the survey, the NHF concluded that overall tenants were pleased with their homes and the quality of the services they
received.

"Our customers do hold us in very high esteem," Moira said. "They've seen that we are actually interested in our customers as people rather than just as tenants."