At Housing 21, we are proud of our history which has helped shape who we are today. Our roots date back to 1921 with the Royal British Legion (RBL), helping to house disabled ex servicemen and widows and later, older ex-servicemen and women.

Later, in 1964, we first established ourselves as a housing association and since then, we have grown into a leading not-for-profit provider of Retirement Living and Extra Care across England.

• 1964: The Royal British Legion Housing Association was formed to meet increasing housing demand 
• 1965: Work started on our  first scheme 
• 1967: Ralph Grimshaw Court in Westgate-on-Sea in Margate was opened by the Minister of Housing, the Rt Hon Anthony Greenwood MP 
• 1976: We completed our 100th scheme 
• 1983: There are now 10,000 homes in operation 
• 1993: We split from the Royal British Legion, creating Housing 21. Waiting lists were opened to all older people regardless of their service background 
• 1995: Our first housing with care scheme, Bishopsfield, opened in Peterborough 
• 1996: We started to deliver home care 
• 2004: Housing 21 Guernsey LBG begins work to build Rosarie Court 
• 2006: Oldham Retirement Housing Partnership Ltd is formed 
• 2007: Kent Community Partnership is formed 
• 2014: We changed our name to Housing and Care 21 to reflect our home care offer and celebrate our 50th anniversary 
• 2017: We sold our home care offer but retained our Extra Care service delivery
• 2019: We changed our name back to Housing 21
• 2023: We delivered our first net zero carbon Retirement Living scheme, Patent Walk, in Doncaster
• 2024: We celebrated our 60th anniversary as a housing association