Beaver Housing Group

Beaver Housing Group dates back to pre-war years.

Concerned by the lack of affordable housing in Lewisham, local people formed Beaver Housing Society in 1937 with the aim of getting something done about it. After the second world war, the Society's first new homes were built in 1948 at Croom's Hill, Greenwich, setting a high standard in housing that we continue to meet.

Beaver's early developments were funded by a variety of loans, donations and subsidies and the Group still has a reputation for the innovative way it finances its work.

Beaver's housing stock increased dramatically after 1975 when housing association development grants were introduced and we continue to grow at a steady pace.

Beaver Housing Group now consists of three member organisations: Beaver Housing Society, Otter Housing Society and Riverside Housing Developments.

Collectively, the Group develops and manages affordable homes to meet local housing needs in the London boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Greenwich, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Southwark and Sutton and in the Medway Towns.

We work closely with residents, local authorities and specialist agencies to provide the homes and services people want, at prices they can afford.

Grants from the Housing Corporation and local authorities, together with private finance initiatives, have enabled us to provide over 1,000 new or refurbished homes for rent and low cost ownership over the last 10 years. At the end of March 2004 Beaver owned 2866 properties in nine London Boroughs and the Medway Towns. These homes were let as social housing rental stock.

Beaver also provides purpose-built accommodation for students and older residents, as well as homes adapted for use by people with physical and learning disabilities. We work too with local community care agencies and social services departments to provide housing for people needing extra support, such that we currently manage over 3,000 homes in total.

In 2004 Beaver took the decision to become part of the London and Quadrant Group, a partnership which was implemented formally with effect from April 2005.

During the first two years after the creation of the new Group we will be considering carefully how we can make best use of our enhanced resources to improve the services we offer to our residents. In the short term, we do not anticipate that there will be many changes, although some Beaver staff may move to L&Q and for the first time in some years, Beaver will be involved in the development of new housing in London Boroughs of Greenwich and Lewisham.
The plan is under discussion that the Beaver housing stock outside Lewisham and Greenwich will transfer in due course to L & Q's management, and views will be sought from Beaver residents who may be affected by this.

At the same time, we are expecting that Beaver will be receiving transfer of L&Q properties in Greenwich and Lewisham. L&Q will be discussing the plans with its residents, and we hope that representatives of the two residents’ groups will be able to meet and discuss any issues of mutual interest.

Performance Indicators 2003

Indicator	2003	Peer Group Average 2003
Management Costs per dwelling per week £	11.57	15.6
Maintenance Costs per dwelling per week £	15.88	16.99
% of vacant & available dwellings at yearend	0.50%	0.70%
Average relet time in weeks	3.4	5.1
% of rent collected	94.97%	92.21%
% of current tenants in arrears	6.56%	7.98%
% of rent written off as not collectable	0.87%	1.54%
% of rent lost through dwellings being vacant	1.44%	1.31%
Emergency repairs completed within target time (%)	96.7%	93%
Urgent repairs completed within target time (%)	92.50%	84%
Routine repairs completed within target time (%)	91.00%	91%
% of lettings to BME households	39.10%	41.80%