Stonewater explores plan to take on smaller housing association as subsidiary

They said that a partnership would combine Mount Green’s local knowledge and understanding of their residents and communities with Stonewater’s treasury management strengths, development opportunities, digital technology and specialised expert services.

Bill Flood, chief executive at Mount Green, said that joining the Stonewater group would offer Mount Green “strong financial security”, enabling it to invest more in its existing stock and build more affordable homes.

He said: “At Mount Green we are very proud of our long history as an independent housing provider in Surrey and more recently North Sussex.

“Joining the Stonewater Group would offer Mount Green stronger financial security that will enable us to better guarantee our investment plans to make improvements to our existing homes, while building more much-needed affordable homes, and make improvements more quickly to the services we offer our residents.

“We also see a fantastic opportunity to offer more potential choice and opportunities to our existing residents who would have access to a larger portfolio of homes from a much wider geography and support from Stonewater’s charitable arm – The Longleigh Foundation.”

Nicholas Harris, chief executive at Stonewater, said the larger group would benefit from Mount Green’s local knowledge and expertise and the partnership would enable Stonewater to enhance its operations.

He said: “The values and vision of both our organisations are closely aligned, and together, we have the opportunity to combine the advantages of a national organisation, with the local knowledge and expertise that Mount Green has built over the last 60 years.

“With an ongoing housing crisis, post-Brexit impacts on supply chains and costs, as well as the climate emergency and the need to drive up customer standards, this partnership offers us the chance to enhance what we do now, and to bolster our future ambitions.”

Stonewater has the top grades of G1/V1 for governance and viability from the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH).

Meanwhile, Mount Green has been graded G2/V2 since its governance was downgraded in February 2022.

At the time, the regulator said that following an in-depth assessment, it concluded that the housing association needs to strengthen its risk management, including its approach to stress-testing.

According to its financial results, in 2021-22 Stonewater posted a pre-tax surplus of £23.9m, a drop from £48.8m the previous year, while Mount Green saw its surplus before tax climb to £1.3m, up from a £28,000 loss in 2020-21.

The news of the planned merger follows several announcements of partnership discussions in the sector. On 26 June, two housing associations in east London, Popla Harca and Tower Hamlets Community Housing, announced that they were considering a merger.