The Charity of Mrs Mabel Luke

The Charity of Mrs Mabel Luke

At a glance

Causes

  • Housing and homelessness

Other details

Organisation type: 
Charity
Geographical remit: 
Local

Objectives

We are a charitable almshouse trust that provides 16 flats for rent to vulnerable households of working age near Newbury town centre.

The trust originated in a 1928 donation by a local benefactor looking to support needy families in Newbury town and adjacent Greenham parish. In 2017/18 the four cottages she had provided were demolished and three small blocks of one- and two-bedroom flats were completed on the site. They were filled by mid-2018.

4 flats are for single people or childless couples. The remaining 12 are two-bed flats for families with children, of whom there are 17 in all on the site. 4 households are from ethnic minority communities; 5 are single parents; 4 are single people - a diverse group.

We provide, manage and maintain high quality affordable homes. While we do not provide further support to our households we help them to access support from the local authorities or other not-for-profit organisations in the area.

Newbury and its surrounds are a high-cost area and the local housing authority (West Berkshire Council) has long waiting lists. We therefore supply a much needed flexible housing resource within easy walking distance of Newbury town centre. We have residents who were homeless before coming to Mabel Luke Place.

Activities

Largely covered under Objectives.

We liaise closely with WBC on the rare occasions that one of our flats falls vacant; WBC has nomination rights to 9 flats from its housing list. We are able to appoint residents for the remaining 7 flats from direct applications, though in so doing we always review the WBC housing list. This gives us flexibility to house households that might not score highly in terms of WBC eligibility but who are nonetheless in need of decent housing.

No current opportunities

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