GM housing associations to merge

Greater Manchester housing associations New Charter and Adactus are to merge, forming an organisation responsible for 33,000 homes.

New Charter, based in Ashton-under-Lyne, currently has around 19,500 homes, under three brands – New Charter across Greater Manchester, Aksa Homes in Oldham and Gedling Homes in Nottingham.

Adactus, headquartered in Leigh and including Beech Housing Association and Chorley Community Housing along with the Adactus brand, controls around 13,000 homes across 21 local authority areas.

Post-merger, the organisation will be led by Adactus’ current chief executive Hilary Roberts, with New Charter’s chief executive Ian Munro remaining in the business for a transitional period. New Charter’s current chairman Fay Selvan has been confirmed as the new group chair with Jane Clayton, currently chair of Adactus, as vice-chair.

Both boards have approved the full business case. Subject to obtaining further approvals, the merger is planned to take place later this year, with the announcement of a new company name to follow.

There will be no immediate change to day-to-day landlord services for tenants, the groups said.

Munro said: “Together we believe that we can do more to address the housing crisis with new affordable homes for people to rent or buy and we hope to work with our new Greater Manchester Mayor to make sure services in our regions meet the diverse needs of local people.”