We're proud of our heritage and where we've come from, but we're also excited for what the future holds.

In April, 2017 asra Housing Association and Leicester Housing Association – both part of asra Housing Group – amalgamated with Paragon Community Housing to create Paragon Asra Housing Limited.

Paragon Asra Housing, known as PA Housing, owns more than 23,000 homes in London, Surrey and the Midlands.

We are energised by the heritage of our founding organisations. We continue being a prominent provider of housing services and will be at the forefront of equality and diversity within the housing sector.

Paragon Community Housing was formed in 2007 by Elmbridge Housing Trust and Richmond-upon-Thames Churches Housing Trust. Working in commuter-belt areas with high property values in the South-East and West London, Paragon Community Housing’s development programme produced award-winning, good quality, well designed homes.

Paragon Community Housing has been dedicated to achieving high levels of customer satisfaction and was passionate about the work it has done to improve neighbourhoods.

Asra Housing Association began as a Black and Minority Ethnic housing provider in London in 1984, and its initial purpose was to provide homes and services for Asian older people. (asra is a Hindi word for shelter) asra Housing Association joined Leicester Housing Association to form asra Housing Group, which worked in urban areas in the Midlands, as well as in London.

With 14,000 homes, asra Housing Association was the largest Black and Minority Ethnic housing association in the UK.

Timeline of history of PA Housing

Did you know?

  • Our homes include 20,000 trees, and our Estates Team maintained 1,100,367 m2 of land in 2023 – that equates to around 154 football pitches! 

  • One of our famous former residents was the BAFTA-nominated actor, Terry Thomas (1911-1990). He was best known for his roles in It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World; School for Scoundrels; and for voicing Sir Hiss the snake in Disney’s Robin Hood.  

  • At the TPAS Awards 2020, Ann Netts, involved resident in London for 25 years (and counting) at PA Housing, won a Lifetime Achievement award for her services to the community. Vice Chair of PA Housing’s Richmond Borough Forum and a founding member of our scrutiny group, Ann has consistently been there to help her community and point people in the right direction. 

  • Daphne Clark (1931-2023) was the first employee and CEO of Richmond-upon-Thames Churches Housing Trust which became part of Paragon in 2007. She was one of the first to willingly accept residents described at the time as 'battered wives' and established halfway houses for those being discharged from psychiatric care. 

  • Willow and Ash House in Teddington were built in 2004 on the site of Normanfield Hospital. The hospital was founded by John Langdon Down, who gave his name to Down’s Syndrome. This reflects his pioneering work with the residents who had the condition in Victorian times.  

  • You may remember the controversial ‘You’ve been Tango’d’ adverts on television in the 1990s and 2000s where a man, painted head to toe in orange, slaps somebody across the face after taking a sip of the soft drink. Well, that orange man was played by Peter Geeves (1955-2022), one of our former residents! He also appeared in Muppet Treasure Island.