Melville Housing Association is celebrating a major milestone with stock numbers passing 2,000 for the first time in more than 20 years.

The milestone was reached when 23-year-old Demi Yuill moved in to her new, specially-adapted one bedroom home at Harvieston Park in Gorebridge. Built by Taylor Wimpey as part of a £2.8 million deal, the flat is level access and includes a wet floor shower and wheelchair-accessible kitchen.

Made possible thanks to £1.58m in Scottish Government grant funding, the deal with Taylor Wimpey saw Melville take on 21 high-quality affordable homes at Harvieston Park. As well as Demi’s one-bedroom flat, the properties are made up of 11 two bedroom flats, 8 three bedroom houses, and a single two bedroom house.

Following the completion of this latest development, Melville, Midlothian’s largest registered social landlord, now owns and manages 2,009 properties for rent.

“Passing 2,000 homes for the first time since 1996 is a major milestone,” said Andrew Noble, Chief Executive of Melville Housing. “When we took over from Scottish Homes in 1995 we owned 2,023 properties, however over the course of the next ten years right to buy sales resulted in our stock numbers falling by nearly a quarter. With the start of our development programme in 2004, and with the ending of Right to buy in 2016, we have been able to build our stock up again and demonstrate our determination to meet local housing needs.

“Projects like this would not be possible without the support of our partners at the Scottish Government and Midlothian Council or without the commitment of our Board. These are exciting times at Melville and we look forward to delivering many more high quality, affordable homes over the coming years.”

This latest project, which is helping meet the high demand for social housing in Midlothian, where there are currently over 4,000 individuals and families on the waiting list, builds on an already successful partnership between Melville and Taylor Wimpey, which has now delivered almost 100 high quality, affordable homes across the local area.