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HCA approves for-profit council-owned association
The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) has approved the first for-profit registered provider wholly owned by a council.
Wokingham Borough Council set up Loddon Homes in 2014 and announced its HCA registration last week.
Only three other councils have set up registered providers (RP) and only one of these is a for-profit RP which is jointly owned by a council and housing association.
The council set up the for-profit registered provider with the intention of reinvesting any profit into new housing and council services.
There are 150 homes in the council’s development pipeline but it has not yet been decided if these will all sit under Loddon Homes. The council is concerned about these homes being sold off through the Voluntary Right to Buy deal.
Loddon Homes was set up to own and manage homes built by the council’s housing company, Wokingham Housing Limited (WHL).
It has commissioned WHL to build 34 extra care flats for older people, which are due for completion in 2017. It already owns 16 supported housing units.
Gary Cowan, chair of Loddon Homes and a councillor at Wokingham Borough Council, said: “Loddon Homes gives us an additional organisation and increased flexibility to provide the housing our borough needs, while also helping to work towards providing a funding stream for essential council support to residents in a time of austerity for public services.”
