Pioneering shared ownership

In 1987, Doreen Moore bought one of NCHA’s first shared ownership homes in Collingham. She has lived there ever since.

We recognised a need for people who wanted to own their own home in areas that were otherwise unaffordable. With that in mind, we built our first homes to be sold for shared ownership in Collingham, Nottinghamshire.

Doreen shared her experience of buying a home: “When I separated from my husband in 1987 it was a little more unusual for women to live on their own with children than perhaps it is now. I didn’t have any family to turn to, and I certainly wasn’t in a financial position to buy my own house. I hadn’t really heard of shared ownership at that point, but as soon as I learned more, I realised it was the perfect solution.

"I was able to purchase 50% of the property, with NCHA owning the other half. The decision made sense financially as I didn’t have to find such a big deposit, and the house was brand new so I didn’t have to spend any money on it. I have lived here for 35 years now and my children are grown up with families of their own. I’ve been lucky to have had good neighbours so it’s been peaceful."

We’ve gone on to deliver thousands of shared ownership homes, generating profits to reinvest back into social housing.

Our shared ownership programme has gone from strength to strength. We own and manage nearly 1,600 shared ownership homes.

Now we have a dedicated Sales team, who sold 146 shared ownership homes in 2021/2022 to people across the East Midlands.