​WSHA severs ties with Gentoo Group

A Scottish social landlord has severed ties with a larger English counterpart.

West of Scotland Housing Association (WSHA) has officially ended its partnership with Sunderland based Gentoo Group.

The Scottish Housing Regulator approved the demerger process, which was also backed by a ballot of over 3,500 WSHA tenants, 42% of whom voted and 96.7% voted in favour of ending the partnership.

As an independent housing association, WSHA will now have full control over its own decision making.

WSHA chief executive Lynne Donnelly said: “Over the 18 months, the board of WSHA and the Gentoo Group board have jointly reviewed the partnership and concluded that it was in the best interests of both organisations and our tenants to end the partnership.

“Initially there were a number of positive benefits of partnering with a larger housing association but since then, there has been significant change to the external operating environment which has impacted on the partnership.

“As an independent housing association WSHA will be able to focus on all our communities and deliver a more localised service to tenants, including building 500 new affordable homes over next five years.”

The Gentoo Group is responsible for 29,000 homes in South Tyneside, Northumberland and Redcar as well as Wearside and has recently appointed a new chief executive.

In 2015 it cut 330 jobs as part of a bid to save £18 million by March next year.

Its board was recently criticised over its handling of severance pay outs to executives.