YMCA Blackburn was established in 1896 and is part of the Global YMCA movement.
In October 2016, the Board decided to transfer YMCA Blackburn’s activities to another YMCA. The decision was taken to enable YMCA Blackburn to transform into Y:Housing, a support vehicle to help YMCAs across the country to respond to an attractive but challenging opportunity.
That opportunity was presented by the national YMCA body, YMCA England & Wales, disposing of all their housing stock. As most of their stock was managed by individual local YMCAs, YMCA England offered those YMCAs a first option to purchase at a 45% discount.
YMCA England set a March 2018 deadline to complete the sales and, due to Homes England (HE) grants attached to the properties, only HE-registered providers can purchase them. However, most YMCAs were not registered and had no prospect of achieving registration the time and capacity.
If the individual YMCAs could not meet the deadline, the 45% discount would have been rescinded and the properties placed on the open market, which risked them leaving the YMCA Movement.
To protect and grow the social impact the YMCA network delivers through its housing footprint, YMCA Blackburn which was a HE registered provider, would re-brand as Y:Housing and raise the investment required to purchase the properties and then lease them back to individual YMCAs under standard management agreement arrangements.
Since 2018, Y:Housing has provided a national vehicle through which local YMCAs can retain the management of housing schemes. As at September 2026, YMCA Blackburn owns and has Registered Provider responsibility for 308 homes across its national portfolio. It also has short-term lease responsibility for a further 375 units in the Telford and Wrekin area, supporting the provision of accommodation for people at risk of homelessness.
YMCA Blackburn has delivered 73 additional affordable homes for young people through three developments: 40 one-bedroom apartments at YMCA Bolton, completed in July 2022; five self-contained apartments at 25 Victoria Road on the Fylde Coast, completed in April 2022; and 28 apartments within the Grade II listed New College development in Wellington, completed in July 2024. Current development activity includes the proposed 16-home Halton Y-Pad scheme for young people aged 18–25.
