Affordable Homes for Diverse Needs

 Birmingham Civic Housing Association (BCHA) is an independent charitable registered provider of affordable housing for people in need. BCHA is registered under the Co-operative and Community Benefits Societies Act 2014 and gained charitable status in 2012.

BCHA is different from other small providers in the region who tend to specialise in services and accommodation for specific client groups. As a general needs provider we offer homes to families, young and older people from a range of backgrounds with individual and varied needs.

Established in 1967

The Association was set up by Birmingham City Council in 1967 as a vehicle to access Government funding to acquire and improve dilapidated housing in Housing Action areas, in order to bring the properties back into use as family homes. This involved the transfer of some properties from the local authority and acquisition of others from private ownership. In addition to modernising homes for social letting, BCHA has also modernised homes for sale on the open market and undertaken small scale demolition and rebuild schemes.

We currently own and managed 217 homes – primarily traditionally built Edwardian and Victorian houses, some of which have been converted in to flats. Given the original objectives of BCHA, the majority of our homes are located within the inner-city boundary in areas such as Aston, Handsworth, Lozells, Winston Green, Sparkbrook and Bordesley Green. During a later phase of growth in the 1990s we acquired properties in the Weoley Castle, Northfield and King Norton areas.

Dispersed Across Neighbourhoods

Our homes are dispersed across neighbourhoods and blend in with the neighbouring owner-occupied and privately owned properties. The vast majority of our properties are 2-, 3- or 4-bedroom family homes, the remainder are 1- or 2-bedroom flats that are allocated to single people or couples. While all our homes are general needs, we do carry out adaptations to meet the individual needs of our tenants. 

We have always provided our tenants with the most favourable terms of tenure; accordingly, we continue to grant “lifetime” assured tenancies.

Turnover of our properties is low and demand for our homes remains strong. Over 66% of our tenants have been with us for over 5 years and 45% have been with us for over 10 years.

We allocate 50% of our vacancies through a nominations agreement with Birmingham City Council and the remainder from our direct waiting list.