We started working with Croydon Churches Housing Association (CCHA) on their Norbury property in June 2023 – a house that would otherwise have been empty whilst permission was obtained to redevelop it. For more than two and a half years, our guardians there benefited from inexpensive housing in a leafy corner of South London, whilst contributing 2,052 volunteering hours to great causes.
We tend to talk a lot about our big projects at Dot Dot Dot, supporting major neighbourhood regenerations. But we’ve always worked on smaller scales too, and now is a good time to reflect on that. Last month we handed a seven-bedroom house in Norbury back to our partners at CCHA.
Our harmonious community of seven guardians have now moved on, but enduring friendships have formed, and four guardians continue to live with us in other corners of the capital. The 2,052 volunteering hours they contributed whilst living in Norbury particularly benefited nearby charity shops, such as Crisis, British Heart Foundation and Cancer Research UK.
As always with us, the building was maintained well and in accordance with local HMO rules, with a Croydon Council representative praising standards at the property. High standards of property maintenance is a crucial part of our mission to create positive change through housing. We’re who CCHA turn to when they want to keep a building safe and well looked after.
We supported them right from the day they handed over keys, until our Senior Service Coordinator Charlotte Cutts (pictured on day of handback) returned the property to the organisation, clean, empty and on time. Charlotte worked with our guardians, offering guidance and friendly advice as they planned their move out from the property. We’re pleased that CCHA have successfully obtained planning permission to convert the building. We also couldn’t be happier that it will now be converted into a mix of social and affordable housing.
Mark Muldoon, now our Senior Business Development Coordinator, originally set the building up for us and managed the guardians as they moved in. He says: “the nature of guardianship is that we work with a lot of properties that have been around for over 50 years, and are about to be redeveloped. So it was quite a surprise when I first encountered our Norbury property and saw how modern and positively gleaming it was. Thanks to our fantastic community of guardians who lived here, who were a pleasure to work with. I’m delighted that the building’s future path is now in motion, and that it will go on to provide valuable social and affordable housing”.
