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Residents group calls on housing association’s shareholders to act over social housing sales
A campaign group made up of Notting Hill Genesis residents has written to the group’s shareholders, calling on them to stop the sale and conversion of social rent homes.
The letter sent by the Joint Committee of Notting Hill and Genesis Residents, and seen by Inside Housing, calls on shareholders to stop what it calls a “policy of sale and conversion of social rent homes”.
The committee made up of residents living in Notting Hill Genesis properties accused the association, which officially merged in January last year, of “dumping” 612 of its social rent homes last year.
Notting Hill Genesis has refuted the claims, saying it has no policy of selling or converting social rent homes unless it was absolutely necessary.
A spokesperson for the company added that the letter was calling on shareholders to block a policy that “simply does not exist”.
Notting Hill’s shareholders are made up of residents, founders, current and former board members, and people with an interest in social housing. The group is made up of 102 former Notting Hill and 55 former Genesis shareholders.
The joint committee’s letter to shareholders claimed that despite a pledge by Notting Hill and Genesis management during their merger campaign that social rent housing would be a core value, statistics showed that the two housing associations had sold or converted a number of social rent properties in 2017/18.
The letter says that the Statistical Data Return from the Regulator for Social Housing shows that the two associations sold 65 and converted 547 homes to other affordable products, while only 33 homes for social rent were constructed.
The letter said: “We urge shareholders to block this policy of the executive team and board and preserve the existing social rent housing.”
The spokesperson for the association said that using figures for 2017/18 to set out how Notting Hill Genesis is acting against pledges made as part of the merger paints a “wholly inaccurate picture” as the merger only took place after the end of the financial year.
“In the recent past government policy has not supported the delivery of new affordable (particularly social rented) homes,” the spokesperson said.
“As Notting Hill Housing and Genesis Housing Association we both campaigned for this to change, while maintaining delivery of new homes in a very difficult financial climate with no public funding.”
It added that its strategic partnership with the Greater London Authority meant it now had a pipeline of more than 10,000 homes to be delivered up to 2022, including 2,400 for social rent.
Last month the residents group demanded a vote from tenants over the appointment of the group’s chair after former chair Dipesh Shah resigned.
The letter to shareholders called for their support with this demand and suggested giving Notting Hill Genesis’ 170,000 residents a democratic input into the selection process.
This included publishing the names of potential candidates and arranging a vote with 170,000 residents voting for their preferred candidate, or carrying out elections to vote for resident representatives to be part of the selection process.
The Notting Hill spokesperson said the organisation’s constitution meant that its board must select who the new chair will be and on the board there were already two resident members representing those who live in Notting Hill Genesis properties.
They added: “We recognise the views of this residents’ group, but they are a small, vocal number who have been persistently opposed to the merger.
“We have maintained communication with this group throughout the merger process and are scheduled to meet with them again on 19 February.”