Coastal is a charitable housing association (also known as a social landlord or a community landlord) providing 6,000 homes in Swansea, Neath Port Talbot, Carmarthenshire, and Bridgend. We have been providing homes at low rents to local people in and around the Swansea area since the 1970s.

Most of the homes we provide and manage are let at what is known as a ‘social rent,’ which means they are determined within a formula set by Welsh Government and are less than what you would expect to pay a private landlord for a similar property in the local market. A much smaller number of homes are let as what is known as ‘intermediate rents,’ which means the rents are between a social rent and market rent. We don’t have any properties that are let at a market rent. This video gives more information about rent setting in Coastal.

We also build new homes, funded by a mix of government grants and private finance from banks and other funders.

Coastal does not have shareholders who take dividends from the business. This is often described as ‘not-for profit,’ but a more accurate term is probably ‘profit for purpose’ as we do make surpluses. These are reinvested into the homes we manage and services we provide. Additionally, we are required to maintain certain levels of surplus in our accounts as part of the agreements with private lenders.

We are based at offices on Swansea High Street, an area we have been invested in regenerating over many years. We have a long history of developing schemes with a mix of commercial premises and residential accommodation that brings homes, jobs and opportunities and leisure into city and town centres to help them thrive. Our commercial premises include offices, cafes, pubs, arts centres, restaurants, and shops.

In addition to renting homes to people and leasing premises to commercial businesses, we develop properties for sale through our dedicated home sales company Pennant Homes. We always offer affordable homeownership options like Help to Buy Wales when we develop homes for sale.

We are regulated by the Welsh Government.

At Coastal we think and act a bit differently. You can absolutely see and feel this but it can be kind of hard to put into words. It’s a balance between the belief that anything’s possible and the discipline of remaining constructive, relevant and valuable throughout everything we do.

Our approach doesn’t conveniently fit into an acronym or under a set of buzzwords. Instead we call it The Coastal Way and it goes a little something like this:

We know the value of relationships so we invest in them daily. They are the single most important factor to a good life so we look after them and repair them quickly if needed.

We are careful with our language because we understand its power and impact. The words we use, and that are used about us, can shape both perceptions and reality. They can empower or they can limit. We recognise this and we try to choose wisely.

We use what matters to residents and other customers to shape how we work. We do things ‘with’ people and communities, not ‘to’ them.

We love data and use it to constantly measure and improve our performance.

We learn from and share with others, so our collaborations and partnerships are open and mutually beneficial. Win win.

We value diversity and authenticity so our people are encouraged to be themselves and work in whatever ways suit them best.

We make our workplaces non-hierarchical and safe spaces for anyone to experiment, question, fail, think and learn. Our teams are the experts in what they do and we trust them, so we’re able to make decisions quickly.

We value innovation and encourage our people to devise and explore new approaches to make things better.

We want to keep money in the area so we make sure that when we spend it, we do so with local businesses if possible. If not, we use Welsh businesses or those with connections to Wales.

We take responsibility, individually and collectively, for the impact we have on the environment and seek ways to limit it.

Equality and Diversity 

At Coastal, everyone matters and we celebrate diversity. It helps us improve what we do and makes the communities we live and work in culturally richer.

We positively promote equality and diversity in all areas of our work and challenge behaviours which don’t meet our values.

We require organisations that we work in partnership with to share our commitment to equality and diversity.

When you have any contact with us, in any capacity, we want you to feel you’ve been:

  • valued as an individual
  • treated with courtesy
  • given fair access to our services
  • given any reasonable adjustments necessary to meet your specific needs

If you feel you’ve been unfairly treated, please get in touch to let us know. You can use the complaints procedure or contact a member of staff that you’re happy to talk to.

Our service to you

We want to deliver the best possible service to you. Our service standards tell you what you can expect from us as an organisation.

If your experience doesn’t match our standards or if at any time you are not happy with a service, please let us know so we can act and improve it in future.

Customer Service Team

Whether you’re an existing resident or looking to apply for a home, our Customer Service Team is your first point of contact for any enquiries about housing.

You can contact the team by phone, email, Web Live Chat or social media by messaging us on Twitter or Facebook.

Our service standards

We will always:

  • Be polite, helpful and sensitive to your needs
  • Listen to you and take the necessary action to assist you
  • Keep you informed
  • Aim to resolve your enquiry as soon as possible
  • Tell you if we get things wrong and learn from this for the future

Feedback

We’re always working to improve our services and the experience we give residents so please do tell us how you think we’re doing.

Of course we love hearing about when things went right, but it’s even more important that we get to hear when things didn’t so we can learn and improve.

Email us your feedback

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