Places for People

Places for People (PfP) is one of the largest property management, development, regeneration companies and leisure companies in the UK.[1]

PfP is made of up 16 companies, has assets in excess of £3.3 billion, and manages more than 143,000 homes. Places for People companies deliver a number of services including:

History

PfP was founded as North British Housing Association in 1965. Bristol Churches Housing Association joined the group in 1999, and the name was changed to Places for People Group Ltd on the 1st June 2000.[2]

Group companies

Places for People is made of up 16 companies including:

Other Group companies include:

Finances

Housing groups borrow money to pay for new homes and improvements. Like some other large groups, PfP raises money from investors by issuing corporate bonds in its own name.[4]

As the late-2000s financial crisis progressed, first-time buyers had difficulty in obtaining bank mortgages. PfP was the first housing group to respond by providing mortgages for shared ownership or 100% buyers on its own developments.[5]

In April 2008 PfP launched the Ownhome equity loan scheme in partnership with the Co-operative Bank. This was aimed at enabling first time buyers, key workers and occupants of social housing to purchase homes on the open market through a combination of a standard co-operative bank mortgage for between 60-80% of value with the balance funded via an equity loan from Places for People. The scheme ended in April 2010 when funding support for the equity loan was withdrawn by the government.

In 2010 the group recorded a £25 million impairment in the value of its assets, the largest write-down by a UK housing association up to that date.[6]

PfP raised the social housing sector's first unsecured UK bond in May 2011.[7]

Awards

PfP has won various awards, and is the only housing provider to have been named Landlord of the Year twice at Property Week's RESI awards, winning the accolade in both 2012 and 2014.

Other awards include:

Controversy

In September 2003, the group suffered a crisis in governance, with a damaging row between board members and chief executive David Cowans over the latter's pay during a time of rapid growth. The group's regulator, the Housing Corporation, placed it into supervision until July 2004, appointing additional board members and imposing other sanctions.[15] Cowans is among the sector's highest-paid executives, and his pay attracted further media attention in 2005 after a backdated pension settlement.[16]

In 2010 the high salaries of housing association executives drew criticism from the incoming government, in particular that the second highest paid executive at a housing association was the chief executive of Places for People, earning £297,000 per year.[17]

In August 2014 a member of staff at leisure subsidiary Places for People Leisure mistakenly informed a customer that breastfeeding was banned at its Newport Pagnell pool. This was subsequently proven to be a misunderstanding and Places for People Leisure confirmed breastfeeding was not banned at its leisure facilities.[18]

References

  1. "Places for People... the UK's largest housing and regeneration group", Homeless International, 15 Jan 2007
  2. "History". group website. Archived from the original on 2009-01-31. Retrieved 2011-08-20.
  3. Our companies on official website
  4. Bond tap nets Places for People £150m, Inside Housing, 23 Dec 2008
  5. Social landlord bypasses banks to provide 100% mortgages, Public Finance, CIPFA, 29 June 2009
  6. Landlord suffers £25m land hit, Inside Housing, 15 October 2010. Retrieved 2011-09-30.
  7. Places for People issues £175m bond, Inside Housing, 20 May 2011
  8. Housing Excellence 2014 winners
  9. Building Awards 2013 winners list
  10. Flame Awards 2013 winners list
  11. 11.0 11.1 Awards on group website. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
  12. "Places for People Group: 2007 Gold Award winner". Housing Corporation. Archived from the original on 2007-12-20. Retrieved 2010-11-28.
  13. "Kush Housing Association". Places for People. Archived from the original on 2008-05-26. Retrieved 2010-11-28.
  14. "Awards". Places for People. Archived from the original on 2008-02-22. Retrieved 2010-11-28.
  15. Why governance style matters, Inside Housing, 30 July 2004
  16. Windfall for chief after pay bungle, Inside Housing, 19 Aug 2005
  17. Robert Winnett, Andrew Porter, Holly Watt (2 June 2010). "Housing association chief on £400,000 a year". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2010-06-17.
  18. "Newport Pagnell mother in pool breastfeeding rule row". BBC. 7 August 2014. Retrieved 7 August 2014.

External links

(charitable subsidiary)