Manningham Housing Association (MHA) has marked four decades of providing affordable homes and supporting communities across Bradford district with a special anniversary celebration at Bradford Live.
The evening was expertly hosted by Eyarun Nessa, who guided guests through the celebration and its programme of performances, speeches and special moments. The awards ceremony was presented by Barrington Billings, former Chair of Manningham Housing Association and now Chair of BME National, who returned to help recognise the outstanding contributions of individuals who have played an important part in MHA’s journey and its communities.
Around 200 guests came together at the city centre venue to celebrate MHA’s 40-year journey, with performances from Dixons Manningham Academy Choir, a traditional Baul music ensemble and cultural dance group Punjab Roots.
The evening also featured a special awards ceremony recognising individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to MHA and its communities, before past and present representatives of the organisation joined together for the cutting of a spectacular 40th anniversary cake.
The celebration was also honoured by the presence of Kersten England CBE, Deputy Lieutenant of West Yorkshire, attending in an official capacity on behalf of the Lord-Lieutenant, His Majesty The King’s representative in the county.
Welcoming attendees, MHA Chair Rupert Pometsey reflected on an organisation whose roots stretch back to a pioneering piece of community research into the housing conditions experienced by Asian families in Manningham.
In 1985, the Bangladeshi Youth Organisation secured £3,000 from Bradford Council’s Urban Programme to undertake research into local housing need. The work was led by Anil Singh, supported by Tahir Mahmood, Saleem Mohammed and Sheesh Hamid, with Dr Ann Dye-Sharpe designing the questionnaire.
The research exposed severe overcrowding and demonstrated a clear need for homes capable of accommodating larger and multigenerational families. One of the cases identified involved 18 people living in a two-bedroom back-to-back house. Following discussions about the findings, community representatives concluded that a housing association led by and accountable to the community itself was needed. Manningham Housing Association was founded in 1986, with Dr Shaukat Ahmed MBE serving as its founding Chair, and was formally registered with the Housing Corporation in 1987.
From those beginnings, MHA has grown into an organisation managing more than 1,400 homes and supporting thousands of residents across Bradford and Keighley. Its original purpose remains central to its work: providing quality homes, championing diversity and responding to the needs of communities that have historically been underserved by mainstream housing provision.
Mr Pometsey said: “The housing needs identified four decades ago were about much more than bricks and mortar. They were about dignity, fairness and ensuring that families could live in homes which properly met their needs.
“That community-led approach became the foundation of Manningham Housing Association, and it remains part of who we are today. Forty years later, we can look back with enormous pride at what has been achieved, whilst remaining firmly focused on the individuals, families and communities we exist to serve.”
MHA’s history includes a number of significant milestones. Its first homes were acquired in Belle Vue, Manningham, followed by its first new-build scheme at Hollings Road in 1990. Then Prince Charles visited the association in 1992, and MHA’s work was showcased internationally at the United Nations City Summit in Istanbul in 1996 for its pioneering approach to BME housing.
The association also helped challenge established approaches to the funding and delivery of larger family homes. Its anniversary history records how MHA and its early leaders argued that housing value should consider the number of people appropriately housed rather than simply the cost of each individual property—an approach which subsequently influenced wider housing funding policy.
MHA has faced challenges during its four-decade history too. After receiving a G3 governance rating from the Regulator of Social Housing, the organisation embarked on an extensive improvement programme involving a refreshed Board, executive leadership and its Customer Panel. In 2021, it regained the regulator’s highest G1 governance rating.
Since then, MHA has continued to grow and develop, adding more than 100 family homes to its stock in recent years and receiving regional and national recognition for its work. MHA Chief Executive Lee Bloomfield told guests that the anniversary was an opportunity not only to celebrate the past but also to look confidently towards the organisation’s future.
He said: “Everyone in this room should take great pride in the many lives Manningham Housing Association has changed for the better over the last four decades. But I want to make it clear this evening that, in my view, the best is yet to come. Earlier this year, the Board approved our new Corporate Strategy, which restated our vision to provide quality homes, empower BME and other communities, and create opportunities that help people to live well and thrive. A key component of this is our new Growth Strategy, the vehicle through which we are putting together plans to deliver up to 150 new affordable homes in the coming years. Every one of those homes will have the potential to change the lives of the individuals and families who take up residence.”
Mr Bloomfield also highlighted MHA’s interconnected strategies covering tenant engagement, people and culture, equality, diversity and inclusion, digital transformation and the future development of the organisation.
He continued: “Taken together, they provide the roadmap for the next 40 years of success for MHA – and hopefully many more after that.”
Paying tribute to those who have contributed to Manningham Housing Association over four decades, he added, “I want to thank Board members – past and present – for their support.
“And I pay special tribute to my team for all they do to make Manningham Housing Association what it is today.
“Their professionalism, skill, foresight and dedication make them a credit to the organisation, to Bradford district and to themselves. I am immensely proud of every one of them.”
The anniversary also provided an opportunity to recognise the many people who helped shape MHA’s development over the past 40 years, including its founding Chair Dr Shaukat Ahmed MBE and Anil Singh, whose early research, vision and commitment played an important role in establishing the organisation. MHA’s anniversary history describes its development as a collective effort involving successive Chairs, Board members, chief executives, employees, tenants, community representatives and partner organisations.
Today, MHA remains Bradford’s only specialist BME housing association, continuing the community-focused purpose on which it was established while adapting its homes and services to the changing needs of the district’s diverse communities.
Want to discover more about our journey? Click here to explore MHA’s special 40th anniversary book, featuring the people, stories and milestones that have shaped four decades of People, Places and Progress.