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Finance boss and chief operating officer at 80,000-home landlord to exit
Two of Southern Housing’s most senior and longest-serving executives are to step down next year.
Sarah Smith, who is the G15 landlord’s chief financial officer, and Jane Porter, the group’s chief operating officer, will leave next spring.
Both of them have spent around 16 years at Southern in its various guises, joining the organisation when it was known as Amicus Horizon.
In 2017, Amicus Horizon merged with Viridian to create Optivo. Southern Housing, which operates around 80,000 homes, was formed in late 2022 through the merger of London-based landlord Optivo and Southern Housing Group.
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Ms Smith said she was “very excited” to be planning her retirement, but will continue with non-executive roles with housing charities. “I am very proud of what we have achieved over the last 16 years,” she added.
Ms Porter is not expected to take another full-time position either, but may pursue non-executive roles, a spokesperson told Inside Housing. She already sits on the board of 10,000-home Settle.
Southern has begun its recruitment for a replacement for Ms Porter. Her role is being given the new title of executive director of operations, but will have the same responsibilities.
This will include overseeing the landlord’s “regulatory consumer objectives”, an advert for the job said.
In August, Southern was awarded a C2 grade under the Regulator of Social Housing’s (RSH) new consumer standards regime.
The RSH found evidence of “weaknesses in the provision of an effective, efficient and timely repairs service” and said “improvement is needed”.
At the same time, Southern regained its G1 status for governance, while retaining its V2 grade for financial viability.
A regulatory notice, which found that Southern Housing Group breached the Rent Standard in 2021, was also removed.
In its last full year to the end of March 2024, Southern reported a 93 per cent drop in surplus to £3m due to delays on schemes and higher costs. It has also stopped committing to new developments.
A report from the Housing Ombudsman in May this year said that a “lack of ownership” over “complaint-handling culture” at Southern had highlighted the risks around mergers.
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