Unity Homes and Enterprise has been shortlisted for the two Housing Executive Awards, including the blue ribband category of Housing Association of the Year.
The Leeds-based BME organisation is also in the running for Best Social Value Project which recognises initiatives “explicitly aimed at enriching the lives and communities of residents, beyond building homes.”
The Housing Association of the Year Award will be presented to one of four national finalists “that has supplied safe, affordable homes to those that need them most, and upheld a high standard of quality all year round.”
The Housing Executive Awards is the UK’s dedicated social housing awards night and provides a platform that aims to celebrate the most innovative projects in the sector, as well as the people that make them happen.
Nominations are open to all organisations that play a role in the social housing sector and have contributed to providing affordable housing and changing lives.
The prize-giving ceremony will take place on Tuesday 6 October at the home of Bolton Wanderers Football Club.
Unity was formed in 1987 with the objective of building a strong, BME-led, community housing association to address the needs of black and minority ethnic communities in Leeds.
It now manages almost 1,400 properties for tenants from all communities and ethnic backgrounds, including developments in Huddersfield and Cleckheaton.
Making the association unique in the social housing sector, Unity actively promotes entrepreneurship as a career to individuals who are not traditionally encouraged by the sector to follow this path.
Alongside the provision 153 affordable business units for more than 140 diverse businesses employing over 1250 people in Leeds, Unity offers a range of advice and support services for people to become self-employed, receive training and education, and gain a job for the first time or after a long period of economic inactivity.
Cedric Boston, Unity Homes and Enterprise Chief Executive, said: “I am delighted that the hard work and professionalism by teams across the association over the past 12 months has been recognised by the Housing Executive Awards judges.
“Unity operates not only as a landlord, but as an anchor organisation. We define our success by how well our tenants prosper both economically and socially. As such, we aim to tackle not only tenants’ housing needs, but also their economic and social challenges.
“As a relatively small housing association which is immensely proud of our roots in BME communities in Leeds, being shortlisted for two such prestigious awards underlines that we are punching well above our weight locally, regionally and nationally.”