North East Mayor Kim McGuinness has praised a regional housing association for its ongoing programme of home energy upgrades, highlighting the role this work plays in tackling poverty, cutting household bills, and building a greener future. 

Mayor McGuinness said: “I am committed to making the North East the home of real opportunity. To do that we must support the thousands of families across our region who are struggling with fuel poverty and make sure everyone has a warm home they’re proud of.  

“That’s why it’s great to see organisations like believe housing building sustainable homes and making thousands of energy upgrades to houses in the North East, helping their customers keep more money in their pockets.  

“As Mayor, I will scale up our retrofitting industry with more jobs, reinforcing our region as a leader in green energy. That will mean skilled green jobs for local people, upgrading homes across our communities.”  

The Mayor made the comments during a visit to believe housing, a not-for-profit landlord which manages more than 18,000 homes across the North East. 

During her visit, leaders outlined believe housing’s ongoing work to improve existing homes — which includes ensuring every property meets at least an EPC (Energy Performance Certificate) rating of C which makes them warmer, greener and more affordable to heat for residents.  

And they spoke about its delivery of about 200 high-quality, energy-efficient new homes a year, where they are most needed.  

This work is central to believe housing’s commitment to providing healthy, affordable homes and goes hand in hand with a wide range of support services for customers and communities, including employability programmes, welfare benefits advice, and community grant funding. 

Mayor McGuinness also heard how long-term investment in social housing is helping to create green jobs and boost local economic growth.  

She met representatives from RE:GEN Group, believe housing’s delivery partner for energy improvement works, who said that visible, ongoing investment gives them the confidence to grow their skilled workforce — enabling them to continue delivering upgrades and support the region’s transition to a greener economy. 

As part of her visit, the Mayor met believe housing customer Val Singleton at her home in Crook, which recently benefited from improvement and decarbonisation works, including a new roof with solar panels and enhanced loft insulation. 

Val’s home is one of 3,477 believe housing homes to receive energy efficiency upgrades, part-funded by the government. 

“It was lovely to meet Val, whose home is one of many that have already been fitted with energy efficiency upgrades, including solar panels and insulation, not only making her home warmer, but reducing her heating bills too,” said the Mayor.

 “We are already making it easier for people in County Durham to get the advice they need to reduce their bills. 

 “I am working closely with the industry to increase the supply of sustainable social housing, and retrofit more homes across the North East to help more people, like Val, save on their energy bills.”  

Alan Smith, Chief Executive of believe housing, said: “We welcome the opportunity to show the Mayor some of our work and to talk about how it supports her missions for the region — creating a stronger, fairer economy, generating job opportunities, tackling poverty, and advancing green energy. 

“We also discussed the wider challenges facing the social housing sector and how we can work together with the North East Combined Authority, through the North East Housing Partnership, to do even more to make our region a better place to live and work.” 

The North East Housing Partnership is a group of social housing providers and local authorities, working together to support the North East Mayoral Combined Authority to deliver a comprehensive housing plan for the region that drives inclusive economic growth through the delivery of new homes, supports net zero and skills, and helps residents live healthier lives.  

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