MTVH chief financial officer to step down later this year

Mr Johnson said: “Serving as chief financial officer for a values-based organisation like MTVH has been a great privilege.

“In a sector facing several competing pressures, stewarding MTVH’s finances has involved many challenging decisions, however it has been wonderful to see our residents always at the forefront of our thinking.”

Mr Johnson said this was exemplified by MTVH’s 2023 board decision to provide fully for the remediation cost of its qualifying leaseholders and create a carve-out from its loan covenant to expedite MTVH’s fire safety remediation programme.

“Over the last 10 years I have worked hard to build a finance team with strength in depth that has well-established reporting and financial control processes and a clear operating model,” he said.

“After a 40-year career, this therefore feels the right time for me to retire and hand over responsibility. I am proud of what we have achieved together in my time at MTVH. We have enhanced resident experience, created great places to live and met the challenges faced by communities by supporting people to live well.”

Mel Barrett, who took over from Geeta Nanda as chief executive of MTVH in September, is leading the search and selection process for the new chief financial officer. He will be supported by other board members and has appointed recruitment firm Page Executive to assist.

Mr Barrett said: “On behalf of the board and executive team, I would like to thank Ian for his contribution to MTVH and wish him well on his well-earned retirement.”

He said that Mr Johnson leaves MTVH in a “strong financial position”, with its credit rating confirmed as A- stable by S&P in December 2024 and G1/V2 ratings from the Regulator of Social Housing.

Mr Barrett said: “While current market conditions make development of homes more challenging, we continue to have the financial capacity to build new homes and are on track to deliver 569 homes in the year to March 2025.

“Our financial results for the six months to September 2024 showed a robust balance sheet with available liquidity of £675m and a low gearing ratio of 39 per cent.

“We are now focused on the appointment of a new chief financial officer who will build on this track record of success and continue to maintain our strong financial governance while helping to maintain MTVH’s values as a social purpose organisation which was established in 1957 to house Windrush migrants and exists to deliver for our residents.”