Homes For Good, a letting agency based in Glasgow, has been given a prestigious award for housing more than 1,000 people on low incomes.

The company focuses on acquiring neglected homes and renovating them, with a view to letting them to people on low incomes.

The World Habitat Awards, which are organised by World Habitat in partnership with UN-Habitat, recognise and highlight innovative, outstanding and revolutionary housing ideas, projects and programmes from across the world.

As a result of winning the Gold award, Homes For Good will receive £10,000 and the opportunity to share their knowledge of the sector and inspire others to follow suit at an international event, which will be organised alongside World Habitat.

Homes For Good was founded in 2013, to improve conditions in the private rented sector for tenants and landlords and to support, people on low incomes to access quality homes in the private rental sector.

It has since raised £20m in social investment and has bought and developed more than 330 homes. It also manages a further 220 homes, working with 130 landlords and 800 tenants overall, the creation of HFG housing portfolio was inspired through its own research which showed that just 3% of approximately 500 two-bedroom properties on the market at the time were both affordable and accessible to people on benefits – and those that were available were in extremely poor condition.

In addition to homes being renovated, Homes For Good also offers the unique touch of an interior designer working with tenants to improve the property’s condition.

Homes For Good also engages with tenants on issues wider than housing, and includes a programme of activities to improve wellbeing, reduce isolation and the opportunity to develop new skills.

Maimunah Mohd Sharif, executive director at UN-Habitat, said: “With housing and living costs rising globally and increased risk for many to fall into homelessness and informality, we are more convinced than ever that ensuring adequate housing must be understood as a shared responsibility of all housing stakeholders.

“In the case of Homes for Good, we appreciate the full role of the private sector stepping up to provide affordable housing to low-income people, embracing housing in its social function and human rights status. Further, the partnership with specialised organisations ensures that people are put at the centre of each step of the process.”

Leilani Farha, dlobal director of The Shift and a final judge of the World Habitat Awards, added: “Homes for Good challenges the idea that a good return on investment in housing requires steep rents. Instead, they’ve developed an effective business model investing in buildings which they upgrade and provide at affordable rates for people with the lowest incomes. At a time when decent, low-cost housing is scant, Homes for Good is exactly the type of social enterprise the world needs more of.”