The History of Midland Heart

Midland Heart, as it is today, began over 100 years ago.

From a few homes in Birmingham to over 35,000 homes across the Midlands today, Midland Heart is the product of the mergers of several legacy organisations in the West Midlands as well as building its own homes.

The COPEC House Improvement Society

In 1924, the Christian Conference on Politics, Economics and Citizenship (COPEC) brought together representatives of churches, societies, and foreign missionary societies to consider reports on the application of Christian principles to social problems. The conference emphasised that concerned Christians could and should make a difference to the lives of the poor.

One of the main themes from the commission was ‘Home’, resulting in practical action to improve the quality of the city’s housing.

The COPEC Housing Society was founded to renovate and manage ‘back to back’ housing in Birmingham. Back-to-backs were houses that were literally built back-to-back, quickly and cheaply. Outer houses faced onto the street; inner houses faced into a shared courtyard.

COPEC began its experiment in co-operative Christian ownership of ‘slum’ property with the purchase of 19 houses (seven front and twelve back) on Pope Street, Birmingham in 1926.

Practically nothing in the way of repair had been done to these houses since 1914, which were let at pre-war rents. The only supply of water was from three taps in the washhouses, many windows were broken or missing; the flooring badly cracked, the walls lacked clean paper, and the roofs leaked. Making these homes fit for habitation meant:

Re-roofing, new floors, replastering, repairing stairs, new grates, installation in each house gas and cold-water supplies
Rebuilding of the washhouse, including one for bathing, and provision of one water closet per house.

By 1936, COPEC was managing 355 houses in the city.

COPEC renovated several homes in Long Acre, giving them distinctive green paint and a tidy and clean appearance that stood out from the drabness of their neighbours. What were dismal and unhygienic homes, now had attractive gardens, with windows giving access to sunlight and fresh air, transforming the experience of tenants.

COPEC continued to expand through the efforts of Canon Walter Sandiford Powell and his congregations who raised £1,400 (c.£41,000 today) to buy fourteen back-to-back houses in the Aston area of the city, and convert them into seven ‘through houses’. The reconditioned homes were handed over to COPEC to be managed.

Not content with renovating back-to-back housing, COPEC was reconditioning derelict homes also, visiting families, and working to improve the standard of living in the poorest communities, based on Octavia Hill’s housing management model.

In agreement with the City Council, several unfit houses and a derelict pub in the Newtown area of Birmingham were demolished and a block of 10 flats built in their place. Overcrowded families in COPEC’s own properties and those in properties demolished by the Council were rehoused.

COPEC expanded further with the building of ten three-bedroomed homes in Sparkhill, funded by the local Rotary Club. Though surrounded by factories the site was still large enough to provide gardens at the front and back, suitable for growing fruit and vegetables.

COPEC suffered a setback during the Second World War, with the loss of 33 homes during the blitz on Birmingham, with the associated cost of damage, repairs and loss of rents. On top of this, post-war, the Council embarked on a compulsory purchase scheme to clear 30,000 houses in central wards, where 80% of COPEC’s housing was located.

However, praise for COPEC’s work from a public inquiry in 1946 meant three of its properties were excluded from the scheme and COPEC given ‘management agency’ status by the Council, allowing it to act as an agent of the state and manage properties in the redevelopment areas.

Because of the absence of men who had been fighting in Europe, women had become essential to the war effort, working in factories. After the war, single women workers continued to be essential to Birmingham’s industries.

Recognising this, to provide for them, COPEC joined two houses in Mayfield Road, Moseley, turning them into eighteen well-equipped, one-room flatlets with a room for a warden and a guest room. This was repeated transforming several other houses to flatlets. These were supplemented in 1950 by Brook House, a new build on land leased from the Bournville Trust in Cob Lane providing twenty self-contained flats on two storeys. The first residents included women working in offices, factories, schools, hospitals, and the Post Office.

With the loss of properties in the central wards, COPEC looked to the suburbs, acquiring properties to convert into housing for older people (who now received a pension), refugees who had escaped the Nazis and people and families from the Commonwealth who had come to help rebuild the country.

Enter Housing Associations…

As an established organisation, COPEC began supporting new organisations, for example, loaning £1,000 to the recently formed Friendship Housing Association to assist in improving properties in Sparkbrook. A close relationship developed, and by the end of the decade they shared three committee members.

As the 1960s dawned, the acceleration of building new houses by councils was matched by private developers. These two arms were soon joined by a third – housing associations.

The Housing Act 1961 gave housing associations access to loans at cheap interest rates; and three years later, the Labour administration’s Housing Act 1964 extended support by allocating more funds and securing lending with building societies. It also set up the Housing Corporation to allocate government funding and promote the development of housing associations.

By 1965, COPEC managed only 210 properties, 129 less than in 1935. Government support for the new ‘housing associations’ provided the impetus for COPEC to begin expanding again, often by merging with other like-minded organisations.

COPEC and Birmingham Housing Trust were active in launching Shelter, in response to Cathy Come Home, and received substantial grants from them. The two organisations merged in 1970 to form the COPEC Housing Trust, making them one of the largest housing associations in the country, managing over 500 homes.

COPEC to Focus and Shape…

The Housing Act 1974 empowered councils to declare housing action areas where there were bad housing and social stress. By the end of the decade, COPEC Housing Trust was active in several housing action areas in the inner city and expanding significantly now managing c.3,500 properties. COPEC had also expanded to deliver specific supported housing schemes through its new ‘Special Needs’ department.

From 1983 successive Conservative governments encouraged housing associations to become the main providers of social housing rather than councils.

COPEC continued to grow rapidly, reorganising into a group structure with subsidiaries providing low-cost homes for first-time buyers and tenants of councils, refurbishing existing homes for sale, and developing a new tenure, shared ownership. ‘COPEC Services’ was also formed to provide gardening, cleaning, and landscaping.

Supported housing schemes were developed for people experiencing homelessness and mental health issues, people with disabilities, and women experiencing domestic abuse.

‘Good Shepherd House’ in Wolverhampton and Rolfe House in Smethwick were established for homeless men; Flint Green House in Birmingham and Stanley Lodge in Wednesbury were set up for the rehabilitation of people affected by mental health issues; and a number of refurbished and new build properties were developed for women and children experiencing domestic abuse, in partnership with Haven, a leading charity.

By 1991, COPEC owned and managed 8233 homes, including 2,500 properties from its merger with Hestia and St Chad’s. Started by a group of Birmingham businessmen, Hestia was the bigger of the two, whilst the smaller St Chad developed from the Methodist church in Lichfield.

The expanded organisation was renamed Focus Housing Association.

Three years later, Shape became part of Focus. Formed to address the needs of people in inner-city Birmingham, Shape brought together housing and employment through teaching young people the building skills necessary for renovating their own housing; bringing a belief in adding value to housing through employment, training, and community initiatives was groundbreaking and impacted positively on Focus.

…and Harambee and Black Star

Formed in the mid-1970s as an umbrella organisation for various African Caribbean groups in Handsworth, Harambee was the country’s first Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) housing association. It became influential locally having 400 rented homes and supporting housing schemes for members of the Black community with mental health issues.

Although Harambee became part of Focus in 1995, it was thought important to maintain ethnic minority control of the association. Focus retained ownership of the stock but leased it back to a new ethnic minority led organisation, Black Star.

By 1994, Focus was the largest housing association in the West Midlands with more than 10,000 homes. Most in urban areas, but a growing number in more rural districts.

Driven by government and Housing Corporation priorities, Focus shifted away from outlying areas and back to the inner cities as an urban renewal agency.

Focus also introduced ‘Housing Plus’, to meet the changing support needs of tenants, with regeneration being people centred and implemented with tenants and communities at the core of its approach.

Prime Focus

In 2000, Prime Focus was set up as a new parent company to enable the core business of providing homes for people and offer related services for the benefit of tenants, staff, and partners. The strategic hub of Prime Focus was responsible for overall direction, policy development, and a strategic approach to social action. The rest of the group was made up of:

Focus – looking after around 50 sites, 12,000 social rented homes and 1,200 supported housing bed spaces
Black Star – a community based arm to reflect the needs of black and ethnic minority citizens in North Birmingham and responsible for 450 social rented homes and two supported housing schemes
Focus Home Options – managing 900 shared ownership and market rented homes, also providing management facilities to other organisations and working on regeneration projects to improve private housing
Focus Pathways – a training agency delivering nationally and internationally funded programmes for unemployed people to help them gain work skills
Prime Focus Finance – a specialist agency borrowing for Focus Housing and Black Star and creating opportunities to reduce management costs.

A parallel story…

In 2001, Touchstone Housing Association and Midland Area Housing Association merged to form Prime Focus owning and managing a total of 16,000 homes.

Touchstone began with Coventry Churches, established in 1965 by several Christian organisations. Though focused on housing issues and providing services for those in need, it also set up a ‘fatherless family’ scheme in Earlsdon – emergency accommodation for youngsters at risk of criminality. Later, it was prominent in in Coventry’s first Housing Action Area.

After completing its first newbuild scheme in 1978, it expanded to Stoke-on-Trent, Rugby, and Leicester. Innovatively, it carried out its first tenants’ survey in 1978 and later appointed a Welfare Benefits Officer to help tenants as part of its anti-poverty strategy.

In 1994, Coventry Churches merged with Normid, formed in 1976, to make Touchstone Housing Association with 8,500 homes, supported housing projects, and schemes for the elderly. In 1995, Touchstone was the first housing association to set up a comprehensive call centre to improve service to tenants. It went on to create Touchstone Extra Care in a joint venture with the Extra Care Charitable Trust and built the country’s first retirement village in Stoke-on-Trent.

Midland Area Improvement Housing Association, influenced by ‘Cathy Come Home’ and Shelter, was set up in 1967 to improve housing in Handsworth. It held fast to a ‘small is beautiful’ belief to stay close to those it supported.

Still, by 1987 it managed 2,500 homes, mostly in Handsworth but also elsewhere in run-down areas, as well as sixteen supported housing projects. Three years later, it joined with COPEC to invest £56,000 in two play areas in Handsworth and Aston through an Inner-City Partnership Grant. Later providing more newbuild, mixed tenure, and mixed needs group schemes, Midland Area grew to 3,500 homes in north Birmingham and Sandwell.

Finally, Midland Heart…

On April 1 2006, Prime Focus and Keynote Group, then the two biggest housing and social regeneration businesses in the region came together to form Midland Heart.

Since then, Midland Heart has grown into a business that owns and manages around 35,000 homes across the Midlands, providing mainly social homes, but also leasehold and shared ownership.

During that time, Midland Heart has put its strategic focus on being an excellent landlord, achieving G1, V1, C1 status from the Regulator of Social Housing and an A1 credit rating.

Midland continues to grow, despite moving out of providing care and some of its independent living services, divesting these services to specialist providers.

Stock swaps from Stonewater and Orbit, as well as development activity continue to see Midland Heart grow. Project 80 is setting the template for net-zero homes. This will be followed in the next five years by Project 100, an exemplar ‘eco-village’ development, which will set new standards for low-carbon living.