42 social housing mergers made in 2018

The mergers are said to have come about because of reduced government spending on social housing.Figures from commercial law firm EMW reveal there was a total of 42 mergers between housing associations in 2018.The analysis further states that this brings the total number of deals in the last five years to 171.Housing associations are said to have been undertaking mergers as a way of cutting their cost base to deal with reduced government spending on social housing.Figures from the National Housing Federation show the government’s capital commitment towards building homes plummeted from £11.4bn in 2009 to just £5.3bn in 2015.The analysis added that, by merging or amalgamating, housing associations can remove duplicated back office costs in areas such as IT and HR.These savings can then be ‘reinvested’ in areas such as property development, refurbishment, maintenance and other frontline services.As well as delivering housing associations efficiencies through economies of scale, the merger can be said to be used as a ‘catalyst’ for additional streamlining operations.In some circumstances, the merger of two housing associations has been a method by which one financially weak housing association can be ‘rescued’ by a financially stronger housing association – allowing an improvement of services to the tenants of the financially weaker housing association.Examples of housing association mergers in 2018 include:Anchor Hanover, launched in December 2018, created by the merger of Hanover Housing Association and Anchor TrustBromford, established in July 2018, created by the merger of Bromford and Merlin, forming a 40,000-home organisationNotting Hill Genesis, created in April 2018, formed by the merger of Notting Hill Housing and Genesis Housing Association – the organisation manages around 55,000 homes in London and 64,000 across the southeast