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PlaceShapers recruits first ALMO and shakes up fee structure
Housing association network PlaceShapers has recruited five new members, including its first ALMO.
The group, which has more than 100 community-based housing providers as members, revealed last October that it was looking to expand its fee-paying membership beyond housing associations.
Now it has signed up ALMO Berneslai Homes, which manages 18,500 homes for Barnsley Council.
The four other new landlords to join are: 7,500-home Westward Housing; 4,000-home Orwell Housing Group; Unity Homes, which manages around 1,300 homes serving the BME community in Leeds; and Vectis Housing Association, which has 420 homes on the Isle of Wight.
PlaceShapers said it is also in talks with three other organisations about joining, two of which are ALMOs.
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Sinéad Butters, chair of PlaceShapers and chief executive of Aspire Housing, said: “We expanded our membership because we wanted PlaceShapers to be the national network bringing together the values-driven social housing sector to create a unified voice.
“We wanted others that share our ethos to make us a stronger organisation with a broader base and links into more networks.”
PlaceShapers has also shaken up its fee structure so smaller groups pay less.
Members were previously charged a flat annual fee of £1,500, but under the new system, organisations with fewer than 1,000 homes will pay £500.
Landlords with between 1,000 and 5,000 homes will pay £2,000 a year and those with more than 5,000 homes will be charged £3,000.
Members, who get access to a series of events and conferences, are required to sign up to five principles – including building homes that “respond to the needs” of communities.
Other current members include Shepherds Bush Housing Group, Longhurst Group, Gentoo and Leeds & Yorkshire Housing Association.
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