The Wrekin Housing Trust celebrates 20 years
![]()
The Wrekin Housing Trust celebrates its twentieth birthday today (Monday 25th March 2019). The organisation has come a long way since it was created back 1999 following the country’s largest social housing stock transfer from a local authority to a housing association at the time.
The early years of the Trust were marked by significant investments in maintenance and repairs. As the famous green vans hit the roads a small army of tradespeople made improvements to family homes across Telford.
In more recent years the Trust has turned housing developer and has now built over 2,000 homes for affordable rent across Telford and Wrekin, Shropshire and Staffordshire. This has contributed a total economic impact of over £350million to the regional economy.
Today, the Trust is one of the largest housing associations in the West Midlands, employing over 530 local people, including 170 fully qualified tradespeople, all as part of the wider Wrekin Housing Group. The Group consists of care provider Choices Housing Association, social enterprises The Furniture Scheme, Fuse and Reviive, and The Shropshire Housing Alliance, and employs 1,300 people in total. The Group’s workforce also includes a specialist ICT team, legal department and catering service, in addition to housing, care, maintenance and development teams.
Finance Director Francis Best, who has been with the Trust for 20 years, said “It’s amazing to see how far the Trust has come in its twenty years. We have grown from strength to strength, and most importantly have made a big impact on the community by helping thousands of families across Telford, Shropshire and Staffordshire.
We will continue to strive to be an outstanding housing association that excels in meeting and supporting housing need, offering a friendly, open service to all of our customers and providing the homes for local people.”
One of the Trust’s newest employees, Property Services Administration Assistant Jay Cherrington, who only joined the Trust this month, said: “I feel so lucky to have joined a great team just before this milestone. What has struck me joining the Trust only three weeks ago is how focused all my colleagues are on delivering the very best services for tenants and customers.”
The Wrekin Housing Trust will also be announcing an Anniversary Fund aimed at community projects to mark its birthday.
25th March 2019