About bpha

bpha is the largest single provider of affordable housing within the Oxford to Cambridge arc. Over the last 30 years, it has grown from its roots as a Large Scale Voluntary Stock Transfer (LSVT) from North Bedford Borough Council in the time of Margaret Thatcher, to being a strong regional organisation with 19,250 homes. From a starting point of 100 employees and a stock value of £63 million, they now have 460 people and a stock value of £1.25 billion.

Throughout its 30 year history, bpha’s purpose has not changed. They are here to provide affordable housing to people who cannot access the open market. However, the way in which they do this and the services they now provide have changed considerably. This has been driven by regulation, technology, economic cycles and societal priorities and will continue to change and evolve, probably at an ever increasing rate. Their customers’ needs, and the communities in which they live, have remained firmly at the heart of their evolution

As a result they work hard with a range of partners to offer the services people need to help them maintain their tenancies, to live their lives in decent and safe homes and to support the communities in which they live. Additionally, they maintain a full and challenging pipeline of new developments in order to provide as many new affordable homes as they can to help address the country’s well-documented housing crisis.

bpha are a ‘social business’ with charitable aims. So whilst the organisation is run with a commercial ethos to achieve high ‘value for money’ standards, all surpluses that are generated (£27m in 2019/20) are reinvested back into the organisation and its work. All the money they make is invested into existing homes, into building new homes, and into delivering new and improved services.