White Horse Housing

White Horse Housing is making its homes more energy efficient with the help of a Green Loan and Green Grant from Charity Bank.

Social Need

As part of the UK’s path to Net Zero, rental properties will need to have an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of ‘C’ or higher by 2030. This presents a particular challenge to housing associations, which can have hundreds, or even thousands, of properties, and which are often working with tighter margins due to charging lower rent.

Organisation

White Horse Housing owns and manages more than 460 properties in rural villages across Wiltshire, Swindon and Somerset. It has one of the highest satisfaction ratings for housing associations in the country and 94 percent of tenants say they are treated fairly and with respect.

Loan

White Horse Housing has taken out a multi-million-pound loan with Charity Bank. Most of this will be used to build or buy new properties. However, £90,000 is through our Green Loans scheme and came with a £60,000 grant. The housing association is using this money, together with its own reserves, to make improvements to 17 homes in a Somerset village.

The houses are beautiful, old, stone-walled properties and several are Grade-II listed, but until recently they were very energy inefficient. A range of improvements have now been made, tailored to each home’s needs. All 17 have been fitted with better loft insulation; 10 have had solar panels installed and six have had their windows upgraded.

Impact

As well as reducing carbon emissions, the improvements are making the homes warmer and more comfortable to live in, and they’re saving tenants money on energy bills. While a full year’s impact has not yet been assessed, tenants are already reporting a significant improvement.

“There’s a synergy between Charity Bank’s ethos and ours. They treat us with respect and with a belief in what we’re doing. The other loan providers don’t fully understand housing associations and can be difficult to work with. Charity Bank does understand us, which makes a huge difference.”

Steve Warran, Chief Executive of White Horse Housing