Places for People completes two mergers

South Yorkshire Housing Association (SYHA) and Elim Housing have both officially merged with housing association giant Places for People (PfP). 

The deals mean SYHA, which manages 5,700 homes across Yorkshire, and 900-home Bristol-based Elim Housing, have today joined 260,000-home PfP as subsidiaries. They will be integrated fully into PfP over the next year, before folding entirely into the larger landlord at a later date.

SYHA, which is seeking to regain regulatory compliance, entered merger talks with PfP earlier this year.

The Sheffield-based landlord is currently rated G3 and V3, meaning it is breaching the regulator’s governance and financial viability standard. It was in June 2023 found to have breached lending agreements due to business planning and control failures.

Elim announced in August it was in discussions with PfP as the current economic environment made it difficult to achieve its ambitions at its current size.

A PfP spokesperson said the mergers “strengthen the ability of all three organisations to deliver high-quality, affordable homes and specialist support services within their respective communities”.

Greg Reed, chief executive of Places for People, said: “We’re proud to welcome SYHA and Elim Housing into PfP. Both organisations have a powerful social purpose, deep roots in their communities, and decades of commitment to providing People with safe, secure homes.

“Together, we can go further for our customers and communities. PfP’s scale gives us the confidence to invest further and faster in new and existing homes, and SYHA’s and Elim’s local insight ensures it lands where it creates the greatest impact. This is an exciting step forward, and we look forward to building thriving communities together.”

The latest deals follow a series of other mergers announced by PfP in recent years, including with Derwent Living and Luminous, and most recently Origin Housing.

In an exclusive Housing Today interview published last month, Reed said mergers are a good way for the group to scale its investment in technology. He stressed however the opportunities have to be right and that there has to be a “full integration”.

Places for People is the fourth largest housing association in the UK by turnover according to Housing Today’s Largest 50 Housing Associations list, with revenue in 2024/25 totalling £1.08bn. The mergers will add around £60m to its annual income.