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Salvation Army Housing Association placed under investigation by the regulator
A housing association owned by The Salvation Army is under investigation by the Regulator of Social Housing.
Salvation Army Housing Association (SAHA) has been placed on the English regulator’s grading under review list, meaning it is being investigated for an issue that may lead to it being deemed non-compliant with regulatory standards.
The 4,000-home landlord currently has a regulatory grading of ‘G2/V2’.
It’s governance grading was downgraded to G2 in 2019 following issues relating to SAHA’s 2017 merger with non-compliant social landlord Chapter 1.
In its 2019 judgement, the regulator said SAHA had succeeded in making Chapter 1 compliant but the attention the board had to give to the transferred services and assets meant an increased focus on operational issues.
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It said SAHA needed to “strengthen its strategic oversight across the whole of the business to ensure, in accordance with our expectations on governance, that it continues to manage its affairs with an appropriate degree of skill, independence, diligence, effectiveness, prudence and foresight”.
SAHA, which primarily owns supported housing, is a wholly owned subsidiary of the international charitable organisation The Salvation Army.
The regulator also said in its 2019 judgement that “the financial contribution to SAHA’s services from its parent continues to represent a material exposure which SAHA needs to manage to ensure compliance”.
The only other housing association currently on the regulator’s grading under review list is Brent Community Housing, which has previously been deemed non-compliant for failing to file financial statements with the regulator.
Social landlords are removed from the list once the outcome of the regulator’s investigation is confirmed via a regulatory judgement.
Nigel Hills, chief executive at SAHA, said: “Whilst we are disappointed at being placed on the regulator’s gradings under review list, SAHA is actively working to address the regulator’s concern.
"We are confident that by working closely with the regulator we will be able to satisfy their concerns and maintain our compliant gradings”.
Update: at 10.57am, 29.01.21 This story was updated to include a comment from SAHA.
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