You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
Chair of under-review association leaves ‘to focus’ on role at non-compliant for-profit
The chair of a housing association currently on the Regulator of Social Housing’s gradings under review list has stepped down after just six months so he can focus on his role as chief executive of a landlord recently deemed non-compliant.
Darshan Singh Matharoo was appointed as chair of supported housing provider Prospect Housing in July, but the organisation has confirmed to Inside Housing he resigned from the post before Christmas.
Prospect Housing, which manages 1,860 supported housing units across the West Midlands, was placed under review in November, with the regulator now investigating a matter that may impact both the governance and financial viability elements of its standards.
Mr Matharoo has left the Prospect Housing board to concentrate on his role as chief executive of Green Park Housing, a position he took up in August last year.
Green Park Housing was deemed non-compliant with the governance element of the regulator’s standards in October, after it discovered “significant failures” at the group, including inadequately managed “conflicts of interest”, potential risks to tenant safety and only one person on its board.
Green Park Housing said that Mr Matharoo complied with all regulatory requirements while at both associations.
READ MORE
Mr Matharoo has a wealth of experience in the social housing sector, including two years as chief executive of United Housing Association and five years as head of regulation for the Welsh government.
In a statement to Inside Housing, David Homer, interim chief executive and finance director at Prospect Housing, said that Mr Matharoo had resigned to spend “more time on his role at Green Park” and the organisation had appointed Richard Hall, a Prospect board member, as its interim chair.
Mr Hall recently retired from full time work but has 35 years experience working in the housing sector and was chief executive of Axiom Housing Association for 12 years.
Prospect Housing’s chief executive of five years, Stefan Deans, left the organisation in October. There is no evidence that Mr Deans’ exit and the gradings under review status are related.
Mr Homer said: “We would like to thank Darshan Singh Matharoo for his work as chair of the board over the past six months and we would like to welcome Richard Hall to his new role as interim board chair.”
Green Park Housing manages 897 units of social housing, leased from private landlords. The majority of its stock is for general needs accommodation in London, while a small percentage is supported housing in Birmingham.
It was the first for-profit registered provider that the regulator had published a non-compliant finding for.
A statement from Green Park Housing said: “We appointed Mr Matharoo, an experienced leader in the social housing sector, as our chief executive in August 2019 – one of the reasons for the appointment of a new chief executive, and in due course a new board, was to help address the concerns that had been raised by the regulator in relation to Green Park’s governance.
“Since then, he has overseen the appointment of a new board, which met for the first time shortly before Christmas, and has undertaken further steps to improve governance.
“From 19 July 2019 until 20 December 2019, Mr Matharoo was also chair of Prospect Housing and he complied with all regulatory requirements.
“He has now voluntarily stepped down from his role as chair of Prospect Housing, which will allow him to concentrate on leading us through the next steps in addressing the regulator’s concerns.”
