Building homes and developing communities
Registration with the Charity Commission affirms the quality of Ulidia Housing Association’s work, including its focus on good cross-community relations.
Ulidia Housing Association has achieved another “first” in Northern Ireland by becoming the first housing association to be registered with the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland. It is anticipated that the registration of charities will bring huge benefits to the charity sector, and to the people of Northern Ireland, many of whom give their time, money and knowledge, freely, to help support their work.
During 2013 Ulidia volunteered to test drive the Commission’s pilot registration scheme, using its online application. This assisted the Commission in developing its registration systems and processes. Following on from the test phase, Ulidia achieved full registration with the Charity Commission on 16 December 2013.
At the launch, John Gartland, Chief Executive of Ulidia, commented: “Charity registration will bring many benefits to the public and to the charities sector, including reaffirming and increasing public trust and confidence in charities.
“We are delighted and proud to be the first housing association in Northern Ireland to become a registered charity and we look forward to seeing the register of charities grow over coming years.”
Ulidia has a well-recognised reputation for innovation in housing and property development, and one of its key aims is to be at the forefront of delivery. The Association was the first in Northern Ireland to introduce a tenant incentive scheme: Premier Service. Recent figures highlight that 76 per cent of the Association’s tenants are now Premier Service members. Premier Service rewards and encourages good conduct of tenancy by offering enhanced services and benefits to those tenants who meet the eligibility criteria.
The Association was also the first housing association from Northern Ireland to win the “Outstanding Achievement in Housing in the United Kingdom” Award. This Award was in acknowledgement for Ulidia building the first Shared Future Housing Scheme in Northern Ireland. Ulidia actively promotes respect and tolerance in all its housing and 84 per cent of its tenants have already signed up to its Good Neighbour Agreement.
Ulidia strongly believes in keeping tenants at the heart of everything it does. This was recognised by the award of the Customer Service Excellence Standard where the assessor’s report described Ulidia as a “high performing landlord that excels at engagement with customers by going the extra mile to meet their needs”. Ulidia’s ethos is to develop housing and build communities, which it does through its network of community support, community champions and its successful Housing Advisory Group.
For the past 36 years, the Association has sought to make a positive contribution to Northern Ireland society, by building much needed new homes, providing exceptional housing services, and supporting vulnerable people through schemes managed under the terms of Joint Management or Service Level Agreements. These include projects managed in partnership with organisations such as the Simon Community (Northern Ireland), Clarendon Shelter, Cedar Foundation, Women’s Aid, and a number of Health and Social Care Trusts.
Listening and responding to the needs of people and communities will continue to be Ulidia’s first priority as the Association continues to deliver its own unique brand of customer-focused housing services in Northern Ireland.
Ulidia Housing Association Ltd
20 Derryvolgie Avenue
Belfast, BT9 6FN
Email: info@ulidiahousing.org
