For Emma and her family, having a stable home has meant more than just a roof over their heads - it has meant returning to the community where they feel they belong.

Emma lives with her partner and their four children in a home in East Middlesbrough, provided by Community Ventures (Middlesbrough) Ltd (CVL), made possible through a £500,000 investment from our Resonance Community Developers (RCD) Fund in 2024. That investment enabled CVL to acquire and redevelop affordable homes for 16 local families, all of whom are now living in secure, good-quality housing within their community.

Emma tells her story in our short film, here:

After a period of uncertainty, the move into their new home has brought Emma and her immediate family closer to wider family, her workplace and her children’s schools - giving them the stability to begin planning for the future.

“It’s brilliant to be closer to my family now. I can walk to work. Now I’m living back here, I feel at home.”

Being rooted in the local community has had a positive impact on the whole family. Emma’s children can walk to school, spend time with friends nearby and feel part of the neighbourhood, rather than being disconnected from their support networks.

“My children are loving being close to family and closer to school. They don’t have to get the bus anymore - they can walk, and they’ve got friends around them.”

This is exactly the outcome RCD’s investment is designed to support. By providing flexible, patient capital to community-led housing organisations like CVL, RCD enables the acquisition and refurbishment of empty properties that would otherwise remain unused - transforming them into safe, affordable homes for local people.

In areas such as East Middlesbrough, where demand for affordable housing far exceeds supply, access to a secure home can be life-changing. The average house price in Middlesbrough reached around £141,000 in late 2025, with private rents rising to approximately £697 per month - increases that continue to outpace local incomes and make the private rented sector increasingly unaffordable for many families [1]. At the same time, there are around 13,000 households on social housing waiting lists across the Tees Valley, with demand in Middlesbrough itself remaining high [2]. These pressures mean many families are forced to move away from their support networks or into unsuitable accommodation. RCD’s funding has allowed CVL to respond quickly to this need, increasing the supply of affordable homes and ensuring that local people are not priced out of the places they call home

The investment has also supported CVL’s longer-term sustainability. Alongside delivering new homes, CVL has been able to purchase important commercial space that will generate income for the charity and strengthen its financial resilience. This additional capacity is helping the organisation move forward with its ambition to acquire more properties and address local housing need on a larger scale.

For Emma, the impact is simple but profound: stability, connection and hope.

“We plan for the future now. I’m going to stay here as long as possible and hopefully grow older here.”

Emma and her family are one of sixteen families to have settled into CVLs homes, demonstrating how social investment can enable community organisations to provide not just housing, but lasting foundations for families to thrive.

Through our investment in CVL, RCD is proud to support homes that keep families together, rooted in their communities, and able to look ahead with confidence.
 

About Resonance Community Developers (RCD)
 

RCD is a social investment fund managed by Resonance Ltd and designed to support communities to create and own assets that meet local needs and help build community cohesion.
 

RCD invests in community-led projects that deliver long-term benefit, including:

• Affordable homes
• Sports and leisure facilities
• Low-carbon and renewable energy generation
• Other community-owned assets
   

Find out more:

• For investors
• For community projects looking for investment

[1] Office for National Statistics, Housing prices in Middlesbrough

[2] Middlesbrough Moving Forward, Tees Valley Housing Partnership Launches to Boost The Delivery Of Affordable Homes