Housing 21 hires interim chief financial officer

Housing 21 has promoted Andy Shaw to the role of chief financial officer.

The £220m-turnover extra care specialist announced the appointment of Shaw on a 12-month basis this morning.

Shaw has served as head of finance and accounting for the Birmingham-based housing association for the past three years having previously worked in a number of roles for the organisation over a nine-year period in total.

The appointment of the former PWC audit manager follows the retirement of previous CFO Andy Howarth last year.

Shaw will guide the organisation’s finances as it seeks to increase its development programme. The organisation said last year it is aiming to increase its development to 800 homes a year, with at least 20% retirement living units and around 80% extra care.

In its financial statement for 2021/22 it said it has 1,500 homes in the pipeline.

It had targeted 1,101 starts in 2022/23 but said in a trading statement earlier in November that starts in the first half of the financial year had been lower than expected as “delays in planning and high inflation in construction prices is making the financial viability of schemes coming forward challenging.”

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The organisation completed 691 homes last year but set a lower target of 353 completions for this year, and in November said it is expecting to complete 316.