Chester & District Housing Trust celebrates 10 years

Chester & District Housing Trust (CDHT) has been celebrating its 10 year anniversary with a series of special events to mark the occasion.

The social homes provider, which took over the housing stock from the former Chester City Council back in November 2000, has been marking 10 years of progress this week.

Events included the bi-annual Colleagues Conference. The event held every two years, charts the organisation’s development and looks forward to the future. Earlier this week, the annual Residents’ Review was a chance for residents to see the Trust’s progress and have a Christmas lunch together. This followed celebration cake cutting at the Trust’s offices in Centurion House, Northgate Street and Octavian House, off Sealand Road.

CDHT’s achievements include being the first housing association in the UK to have a Residents’ Board, which is making real efficiencies to the £12.6 million repairs and maintenance budget which the Board controls. CDHT achieved 100 per cent in the Decent Homes Standard earlier this year, well before the Department for Communities and Local Government’s end of year deadline; CDHT has also ranked highly in the top 100 Best Companies to Work For over the last three years.

John Denny, chief executive of CDHT:
“Our organisation is on the brink of doing something quite special. Take the concept of localism; if you can’t make that work for the communities we work with through our many partnerships we shouldn’t really be in housing. We have a golden opportunity over the next five years; we have a great partner in Cheshire West & Chester Council whilst our proposed coming together with the Cosmopolitan Housing Group creates opportunities that in some ways will buck the trend by creating more housing and employment opportunities.

”I can’t overstate how much work went into the transfer 10 years ago. The first five years saw massive investment in homes. Then we hit a troubled patch but we worked our way out of it. I am so proud that the people who were here when we were in a mess got us out of it, achieving our two stars and excellent rating, building homes and placing the resident at the centre of everything we do. The last five years we have gone from strength to strength and the next five years will be amazing; we are financially robust and others want to join us.”