You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
Housing association chief executive leaves to join private equity-linked association
The chief executive of a 4,600-home housing association has left to head up an association linked to a new form of private investment into supported housing.
Joe Chambers has left his job at B3 Living, which he had held since May 2016, to be the new chief executive of Auckland Home Solutions, a housing association which has struck deals with two real estate investment trusts (REITs).
Auckland follows the same business model as a number of other lease-based housing associations, which don’t own their own homes but lease them from investors and equity funds.
Such associations have come under particular scrutiny this year from the Regulator of Social Housing, after one of them, First Priority, almost became insolvent.
READ MORE
Inside Housing revealed earlier this month that First Priority had signed unsustainable lease deals with private investors, where the required payments were higher than the association’s rental income on the homes being leased.
As well as joining Auckland, Mr Chambers has recently joined the board of Trinity, another lease-based housing association, which earlier this month was slammed by the regulator for “potentially putting its tenants at risk”.
Civitas and Triple Point, two REITs which buy supported housing and lease it to housing associations, have each struck a number of deals with Auckland.
Civitas currently leases an estimated £50m worth of homes to the association after a series of deals struck between 28 August and 2 November this year.
Triple Point, meanwhile, has leased around £8m worth of homes to Auckland in deals struck over the last year. In December last year, income from Auckland made up 10% of Triple Point’s annual income from lease payments, according to the REIT’s annual results.
Auckland, according to its accounts, provides housing to “vulnerable adults in the North East of England”.
A B3 Living source told Inside Housing that Auckland is currently planning to become a national provider of specialist supported housing.
With Mr Chambers departing, B3Living has appointed Steve Woodcock as its new chief executive.
Mr Woodcock was previously operations director at Maidenhead-based Housing Solutions and has also held senior leadership roles at Circle Housing Group and Russet Homes.
Anne Shearman, chair of B3 Living, said: “After a rigorous recruitment process, we are delighted to confirm Steve Woodcock as our new chief executive. Steve’s housing and leadership experience will help us continue to build a strong and customer focused organisation.”
