You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
Four mergers in three years: how combining forces helps us go further at Places for People
Steve Ashton, chief partnerships officer at Places for People, writes that mergers are about one thing: strengthening the ability to deliver for customers and communities
Steve Ashton is chief partnerships officer at Places for People
Steve Ashton, chief partnerships officer at Places for People, writes that mergers are about one thing: strengthening the ability to deliver for customers and communities #UKhousingOver the past two years, Places for People (PfP) has welcomed Origin Housing and South Devon Rural Housing into our group. More recently, we’ve begun mergers with South Yorkshire Housing Association and Elim Housing, with full integration planned over the next 12 months.
Bringing organisations together is both exciting and complex. But the rationale is often misunderstood.
This isn’t about big saving small, or growth for its own sake. Done right, mergers are about one thing: strengthening our ability to deliver for customers and communities at a time when the pressures on social housing have never been greater.
The first benefit is resilience. By coming together, we increase our capacity to invest – in homes, in new developments and in the services people rely on every day. We can also spread fixed costs, such as IT and support functions, across more homes, improving efficiency and value for money.
That matters, because the demands on social housing providers continue to grow in a challenging economic climate. Collaboration, when done thoughtfully, is one of the most effective ways to meet that challenge.
Read more
As a social enterprise, our focus is simple: helping as many people as possible. That principle shapes how we approach mergers. We choose partners carefully – organisations with shared values, strong local roots and a clear commitment to their communities. The aim is not to replace what works, but to strengthen it.
And when organisations join PfP, they don’t disappear. They become part of something larger, but their history, their legacy, and crucially their knowledge and relationships continue to shape how we serve customers every day.
Those local connections, built over decades, are not only preserved, but strengthened, with greater backing and investment in homes and communities.
“Local expertise is not a ‘nice to have’ – it’s essential. Mergers should protect and amplify it, not dilute it”
This also includes PfP’s ability to invest in our communities through hundreds of initiatives nationwide to support customers, including providing furniture and white goods, and supporting health, education, employment, digital and financial inclusion, and so much more.
Origin Housing, which is now fully integrated into PfP, is a powerful example. Founded in 1924 by Father Basil Jellicoe to improve living conditions in London, its mission closely aligns with our own.
Today as part of the PfP Group, the same people continue to manage those nearly 9,000 homes across London and Hertfordshire, maintaining trusted relationships with customers – but now supported by the scale, investment and resources of a national organisation. That balance allows us to invest an additional £100m in improving those homes over the first decade, without losing the local understanding that makes services work.
Local expertise is not a ‘nice to have’ – it’s essential. Mergers should protect and amplify it, not dilute it. The colleagues who know their communities best remain at the heart of service delivery, ensuring continuity, trust and insight.
For example, Pam Bhamra, formerly of Origin, is now regional director for PfP London, and uses her insight and knowledge to support all of our communities in the wider region.
Greater geographic focus allows us to operate more effectively. Concentrating homes in key regions enables more responsive housing management, faster repairs and better services overall, rather than owning homes in dispersed small pockets, which makes it harder for us to offer the level of support we expect.
The same approach underpins our mergers with South Yorkshire Housing Association and Elim Housing. Both are deeply rooted in their communities, going beyond housing to provide vital support and services.
“Mergers are not the easiest path. They require time, care and a relentless focus on people”
As Larry Gold, chief executive of South Yorkshire Housing Association has said, joining PfP is ultimately about ensuring customers see the benefits, combining local knowledge with greater capacity so services can be strengthened, investment increased and more people supported across the communities we serve.
Paul Smith, chief executive of Elim Housing echoes that view, highlighting how bringing organisations together creates greater stability, scale and shared values, enabling stronger, more resilient services.
It also creates unique opportunities for us to learn from some excellent best practice by organisations that have joined the PfP Group. This ensures customers benefit from both deep local expertise and the resources of a larger organisation.
Mergers are not the easiest path. They require time, care and a relentless focus on people. But when done well, they create something stronger than the sum of their parts.
Because this isn’t about organisations losing their identity and others growing – it’s about their strengths, relationships and legacy living on within something stronger, so together we can deliver more, reach further and make a bigger difference to the people and communities we serve.
Steve Ashton, chief partnerships officer, Places for People
Are you subscribed to Inside Housing?
Inside Housing is the most comprehensive information service for UK housing professionals. Not subscribed yet?
Related stories
