Wiltshire Council writes to two landlords with concern over selling affordable homes on open market

The motion said: “Selling social and affordable homes in our towns and villages will undermine the social fabric of the area. We therefore call on housing associations to invest in their older stock in Wiltshire and not be disposing of it on the housing market in the anticipation of buying cheaper replacements in our towns or in other local authority areas.

“We request the director responsible for housing write to all housing associations in Wiltshire, setting out this motion.”

A spokesperson for GreenSquareAccord, which provides housing and support services to 54,000 people, said: “We are committed to working with Wiltshire Council and we are happy to address any concerns or questions the council has regarding our homes and services.

“Investing in our existing homes to make sure they are of a high standard for our customers is a top priority for us. In 2023-24, we invested £71.2m in repairs and improvements.

“This included providing our customers with new kitchens and bathrooms, repairing roofs, replacing windows and making homes warmer and more energy efficient for our customers.

“We now have a full report on the condition of our properties, and this has informed a long-term investment plan which will see us spend £420m on our customers’ homes over the next five years.”

GreenSquareAccord said it had a limited pot of funding with which to maintain the 25,000 homes it owns and manages across England, and that it had a “legal and ethical responsibility” to make sure its homes met quality standards and the needs of its customers.

It said: “This includes ensuring they are energy efficient and as cheap to run as possible. To achieve this, we must make sensible, sustainable decisions about our investments. In some instances, the cost of investing to bring a property up to the required standards cannot be justified and, in those cases, the responsible decision is to sell that property.

“This usually involves properties which are vacant, but there are times when a home will be occupied. When this happens, we provide tailored support and compensation for impacted customers and help them to move on to suitable alternative accommodation. Taking a proactive approach to sell properties where the level of investment is not sustainable is a standard and responsible part of the work of housing associations.”

An Aster Group spokesperson said: “In a very small number of cases, we will sometimes sell a property that is unsustainable. This enables us to reinvest money from the sale into building more modern, energy efficient, affordable homes that better meet our customers’ needs.

“We support any customer affected by this throughout the entire process, providing them with suitable alternative accommodation and assistance with moving to their new home.”

Last month, the landlord revealed plans to invest £585m in its building programme over the next two years, with plans to deliver just under 2,300 new homes by March 2026.