Windsor Walk Housing Association opened its first house in 1970. The Housing Association was founded as part of a co-ordinated development of local services to replace the large, out-of-town asylum where people had formerly received their mental health care.

Although the internationally renowned Maudsley hospital is located in south Southwark, when the NHS was established in 1948 the Maudsley and Bethlem Royal Hospitals were designated as national resources rather than a provider of local services. The people of south Southwark received their mental health care from Cane Hill hospital in Coulsdon. As the ‘de-institutionalisation’ and ‘community care’ movements gathered force in the 1960’s a group of psychiatrists including Drs Birley, Bennet and Isaacs, together with some committed and energetic local people, began the process of bringing a mental health service back to south Southwark. In-patient facilities were established, first in a local hospital and later in the Maudsley Hospital, and a day hospital was established. However, these pioneers believed that an adequate mental health service had to be holistic. With this in mind they raised funds and took on mortgages to establish: a day centre, a factory providing supported working conditions, and local supported accommodation. That supported accommodation is Windsor Walk Housing Association.