The housing charity helping key workers stay local

A housing organisation that offers key workers affordable rental properties has celebrated 20 years since it was founded.

Homes for Wells, in Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, currently provides accommodation to 47 families in the town and surrounding areas of Stiffkey, Holkham, Wighton and Warham.

The charitable trust owns 27 properties, a portfolio worth £5m, and manages other properties that are let through the organisation.

Lynne Burdon, the chair of Homes for Wells, said the association still had a long waiting list and it hoped to buy more properties to meet the demand for affordable housing in the area.

Similar to many towns and villages on the north Norfolk coast, the affordability of housing has been challenging for people working low-wage jobs, the charity said.

Properties managed by Homes for Wells are let at about 80% of market rate and priority was given to key workers and those with local connections.

"It's absolutely critical not just for the families involved, but also for all the people of Wells, because these are the people that staff our health centres, our schools, our shops, our hospitality industries, they're our carers," said Burdon.

Figures from the Office of National Statistics, show that the average rental price of a one-bedroom flat in north Norfolk was £610 a month, with average earnings in the area being £584 per week.

Outside of central London, north Norfolk had the highest level of homes either lying empty or infrequently used in England.

Of the area's 55,000 homes, nearly 6,000 were either second homes or long-term empty homes, which were defined as unoccupied and largely unfurnished.

Annie Golding, 37, grew up Wells-next-the-Sea and wanted to stay living in the area, start a family and grow her business, but she found rents were "absolutely extortionate".

"Myself and my partner, we'd just had our first child and we were living in a second-floor flat privately rented," she said.

"We were on the Homes for Wells waiting list and we were lucky enough to get allocated a house, and we stayed there for three years.

"Whilst we were there we managed to further our careers. I owned a cafe in the town and my now husband was a fisherman, and we managed to save up for a deposit and managed to buy our own ex-council house."

Golding is now a trustee with Homes for Wells, adding: "I think in the next 20 years we will have doubled the number of homes we run."

Wendy Fredericks, a Liberal Democrat councillor on North Norfolk District Council, said: "Affordable housing is a real problem in north Norfolk especially for young people.

"Second homes is part of it. We've levied a double council tax on them which goes towards providing more housing and to support those who do find themselves homeless."

The double council tax premium started to be charged on second homes in north Norfolk in April 2025.