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Council becomes registered provider after winding up wholly owned company
A council has become a registered provider with the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) to increase the delivery of affordable and temporary accommodation across the borough.
Elmbridge Borough Council, which the RSH announced became a registered provider in June, said the move was also down to its decision to wind up its wholly owned housing company, and to bring the stock back under direct control.
The council took the decision to wind up EBC Homes last year as it believed it was “unlikely to be a going concern financially in the future”.
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A spokesperson said: “There were a number of reasons for this, including the lack of development opportunities to grow its portfolio (and build economies of scale) allied to rises in development cost, plus the impact of COVID and other cost pressures on its financial position.
“This is similar to the position taken by a number of other councils.”
Lambeth, Merton and Croydon councils have wound down their housing companies in the past three years.
On its new status, a council spokesperson said: “Becoming a registered provider with the Regulator of Social Housing has been prompted by two main triggers.
“The first is our delivery of homes through the various rounds of the Local Authority Housing Fund (LAHF), which we are providing as a mix of temporary accommodation and social housing.
“The second trigger is our decision to wind up our wholly owned housing company, EBC Homes, and to bring the stock under the direct control of the council.
“We have now become landlord to all the former tenants of EBC Homes, with the majority of these homes now being let on secure tenancies.
“Looking forward, increasing both affordable and temporary accommodation in the borough is a priority for us, and becoming a registered provider helps us to deliver on that priority.”
Earlier this month, Inside Housing reported that a small housing charity in Elmbridge, the Whiteley Homes Trust (TWHT), became a registered provider in May.
The charity said it did so after discovering that an assumption that TWHT had a special exemption to the capping of Local Housing Allowance rates – which it and Elmbridge Borough Council held for several decades – was not the case.
Richmond Council gained registered provider status in February as it aims to offer more temporary accommodation to tackle the capital’s homelessness crisis.
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