Wolverhampton Homes celebrates 10,000th Decent Home

Published by Kate Hughes for Wolverhampton Homes in Housing

Wolverhampton Homes is celebrating completing its 10,000th Decent Home as part of a £400 million improvement programme.

The Decent Homes programme is a Government-funded project to bring all council housing up to a good standard. A decent home is described as one which is warm, weatherproof and has reasonably modern facilities.

Roy and Diane Cooper, who live on Henwood Close, Tettenhall, are the 10,000th household in Wolverhampton to benefit from Decent Homes improvements. They have had a brand new kitchen, central heating, rewiring of their electrics and new roof insulation.

Across Wolverhampton, 10,000 people have now benefitted from a range of work to their home which can include new bathrooms, kitchens, electrics, insulation and windows.

Over the last 12 months 100 homes have been completed every week by Wolverhampton Homes’ construction partners Bullock, FHM and Thomas Vale at a cost of £1.25 million. There are 13,000 homes still to be completed subject to funding.

The programme has also created 740 jobs. Of the builders, plumbers, carpenters, electricians and other operatives and supervisors who deliver the work, 30% of them come from Wolverhampton.

Chair of Wolverhampton Homes, Sue Roberts, said: “Completing our 10,000th decent home is a wonderful achievement and it is thanks to our great team of colleagues here, our partners and our tenants.

“It can be a lot of upheaval for our customers having such a lot of work done at once but it is great to see tenants enjoying the fruits of our labour.”

Roy Cooper and his wife Diane have been tenants of Wolverhampton Homes for over 40 years.

Mr Cooper said: “We were ever so pleased with the work we had done. We can’t thank everyone enough. It has made a huge difference to our lives.”