Our history

A brief history

emh group began its work as East Midlands Housing Association in 1946, building a small number of affordable homes for ex-servicemen after the war.  Since then, we have evolved through our history to thrive in challenging times.

Today, we are the landlord for 18000 homes.  We have specialisms in developing homes in rural communities and in providing housing, care and support services to people with learning disabilities.

We work in more than 40 local authority areas in the region, and with hundreds of partners.

Timeline

1946: emh group starts life as East Midlands Housing Association (EMHA), a traditional housing association set up by a small group of homeless ex-servicemen with an initial capital of just £39 and10 shillings.

1997: Specialist subsidiary Midlands Rural Housing (MRH) is formed to provide support services to four small county-based housing associations. Today MRH provides rural housing expertise and services to a wide range of customers as well as championing rural housing at a regional and national level.

2005: Foundation Housing Association joins with EMHA, bringing with it specialist expertise in providing homes and services to Black and Minority Ethnic communities.

2008: Three Oaks Homes – a stock transfer association with 2,200 homes in Blaby, Leicestershire – joins and the umbrella organisation East Midlands Housing Group is registered.

2010: The Group brands its home sales operation as Hello Homes and starts selling this service to other providers.

2011: Three Valleys Housing - another stock transfer organisation based in Erewash, Derbyshire - joins the group adding a further 5,000 homes.

2013: Enable, a well-established organisation providing care and support services to people with learning disabilities in the region, joins the group.

2013: The four housing associations in the group amalgamate to become one new provider - emh homes - and the group re-brands as emh group.

2014: The emh green team is created to help our residents and communities save energy and reduce their bills.

2016: Enable is rebranded as emh care & support.