Women's Pioneer Housing
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Women's Pioneer Housing is a British
housing association In Ireland and the United Kingdom, housing associations are private, Non-profit organization, non-profit making organisations that provide low-cost "Public housing in the United Kingdom, social housing" for people in need of a home. Any budge ...
founded in 1920, the first dedicated to housing single women.


History

Women's Pioneer Housing was founded in 1920, to help provide housing for the new generation of single, professional women in London following the First World War. It was founded by Etheldred Browning a former Irish suffragist who had run the women’s section of the Garden City and Town Planning Association (GCTPA). Other founding members included Geraldine Lennox of the
Women's Social and Political Union The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) was a women-only political movement and leading militant organisation campaigning for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom from 1903 to 1918. Known from 1906 as the suffragettes, its membership and ...
(WSPU), Lady Rhondda, and
Ray Strachey Ray Strachey (born Rachel Pearsall Conn Costelloe; 4 June 188716 July 1940) was a British feminist politician, artist and writer. Early life Her father was Irish barrister Benjamin "Frank" Conn Costelloe, and her mother was art historian Mary ...
. Sydney Mary Bushell, a member of the executive committee of the GCTPA and hon sec of their women’s section, was also a founder. They incorporated Women's Pioneer Housing as a public utility company on 4 October 1920 ‘to cater for the housing requirements of professional and other women of moderate means who require individual homes at moderate rents’. They raised money to purchase its first property, 167
Holland Park Avenue Holland Park Avenue is a street located in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, in west central London. The street runs from Notting Hill Gate in the east to the Holland Park Roundabout in the west, forms a part of the old west road ...
, in 1921. By 1936 they had 36 properties, primarily in west London and one in Brighton, run on a co-operative basis. Skilled women contractors were central to the organisation's development, including the architect
Gertrude Leverkus Gertrude Leverkus (26 September 1898 – 8 November 1989) was a German-British architect. Early life and education Gertrude Wilhelmine Margaret Leverkus was born on 26 September 1898 in Oldenburg, Germany. She was the second of three daughters o ...
and the first woman chartered accountants, Ethel Watts and Miriam Homesham. Etheldred Browning ran the organisation until her retirement in 1938.


Housing provision

Women's Pioneer Housing is still active as a social housing provider for women, with offices at
Wood Lane Wood Lane (A219 road, A219, formerly A40 road, A40) is a street in London. It runs north from Shepherd's Bush, under the Westway (London), Westway (A40) past Wormwood Scrubs where it meets Scrubs Lane. The road is wholly in the London Borough of ...
,
White City White City may refer to: Places Australia * White City, Perth, an amusement park on the Perth foreshore * White City railway station, a former railway station * White City Stadium (Sydney), a tennis centre in Sydney * White City FC, a football clu ...
, west London. The Chief Executive since 2022 is Tracey Downie, former Executive Director of Housing Management at Homes for Haringey. It is registered as a Co-operative & Community Benefit Society with the
Financial Conduct Authority The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is a financial regulation, financial regulatory body in the United Kingdom, but operates independently of the UK Government, and is financed by charging fees to members of the financial services industry. The ...
and as a Registered Social Landlord with the
Homes and Communities Agency Homes England is the non-departmental public body that funds new affordable housing in England. It was founded on 1 January 2018 to replace the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA). HCA in turn was established by the Housing and Regeneration Act 2 ...
. It continues to house single women, mostly now nominated by local authorities. Plans for a new housing development at the organisation's base in Wood Lane were announced in 2019. After public consultation the revised plans were granted planning permission in November 2022. As of 2019, it was exploring a possible merger with Housing for Women. The organisation celebrated its centenary in 2020, with an exhibition ''Pioneering Courage: Housing and the Working Woman'' ''1919 – 1939'' based on three years of research into their history.


References

{{reflist Housing associations 1920 establishments in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 1920 Feminist organisations in the United Kingdom First-wave feminism in the United Kingdom Women's organisations based in the United Kingdom Social history of the United Kingdom Suffragettes Women in London