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A Northern Irish housing association has unveiled a plan to take ownership of a troubled housing charity’s 429 homes.
Choice Housing, which owns around 10,000 homes across the region, has announced it will be consulting with tenants of Victoria Housing Estates (VHE) over a potential stock transfer.
A £28m investment plan would see Choice carry out a significant refurbishment programme to bring VHE homes up to the Decent Homes Standard.
In 2015, VHE was hit by a scandal following an investigation by the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, prompted by concerns from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
It found that more than £13m in loans had been given by the charity to companies in which one of the trustees had an interest, according to a report published in December 2018.
HMRC also slapped VHE with a £2.8m tax bill after concluding that its former trustees had not used the charity’s assets solely for charitable purposes.
Dawn Purvis, chief executive of VHE, who took the role in October 2016 as part of a new management team, said “years of underinvestment” meant the charity’s homes do not meet the Decent Homes Standard, but it also had not been able to raise the money needed to solve the issues.
Unlike Northern Ireland’s 20 housing associations, Holywood-based VHE is not regulated by the Department for Communities, having been established in the 1950s as an industrial and provident society.
The stock transfer proposals have been developed in consultation with the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland, Choice said.
Michael McDonnell, chief executive of Choice, said: “This should be welcome news for VHE’s tenants who have long been campaigning for upgrades to their homes.
“By working together to reach an agreement in principle with VHE, we can offer its tenants not only the improvements their homes need but also a long-term and secure social tenancy agreement that will give them the same access to services and support as all of our other 10,000 plus tenants across Northern Ireland.”
Tenants who do not wish Choice to become their landlord will be given the chance to buy their homes or remain with VHE in the short term without receiving improvement works, the association said.
The consultation will run for 12 weeks, with the stock transfer expected to take place in autumn.
Choice said it hopes to have the refurbishment works finished within three years of taking over the homes.
Ms Purvis added: “Unfortunately VHE has not been in a position to be able to finance this work itself and hasn’t been able to raise the necessary funds, given the large sums required.
“Our tenants have rightly been calling for the improvements to their homes that Choice is now able to offer them through its proposed investment and I am thrilled that this is happening.”