RSH announces statutory appointments to Board of Prospect Housing Limited

The Regulator of Social Housing (the regulator) has made three statutory appointments to the Board of Prospect Housing Limited.

The not-for-profit, lease-based provider of supported housing operates in Birmingham and the West Midlands. It provides supported accommodation to adults at risk of homelessness, often people with complex needs, including a history of offending, substance misuse, and mental health. In its 2019 Statistical Data Return, Prospect Housing was reported as having 1,860 supported housing units.

The new appointments are:

• Chan Kataria, Group Chief Executive at emh group
• John Ghader, Chief Executive at Prima Group
• Paul Dolan, Chief Executive, Accent Group

Harold Brown, Senior Assistant Director and head of the regulator’s Investigation and Enforcement team, said:

Following the publication of the regulatory judgement on Prospect Housing in May 2020 we have been working with the provider to ensure it takes action to address the weaknesses in its governance and operational arrangements. We have made these three appointments following our most recent engagement to ensure that the existing Board has additional capacity and access to the expertise and skills needed to resolve the failures.

Our priority in taking this regulatory action is to ensure that the interests of Prospect Housing’s tenants remain protected. We will publish an updated regulatory judgement in due course.

The current regulatory judgement is available on the regulator’s website.

Notes to editors

1. The statutory appointments have been made under s269 of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008.

2. As stated in the guidance on the regulator’s approach to intervention, enforcement and use of powers a provider is responsible for ensuring that the organisation is properly governed and viable, and achieves the standards set by the regulator. In circumstances where there has been a failure against a standard or where a provider has been mismanaged, the regulator will assess the most appropriate course of action – this includes the appointment of officers to give the provider a range of relevant additional skills and expertise to assist in resolving the failure against standards or mismanagement.

3. The regulatory judgements and notices, and gradings under review are available on our website.

4. RSH promotes a viable, efficient and well-governed social housing sector able to deliver homes that meet a range of needs. It does this by undertaking robust economic regulation focusing on governance, financial viability and value for money that maintains lender confidence and protects the taxpayer. It also sets consumer standards and may take action if these standards are breached and there is a significant risk of serious detriment to tenants or potential tenants. For more information about RSH, visit our website.

5. For press office contact details, see the Media enquiries page. For general queries, please email enquiries@rsh.gov.uk or call 0300 124 5225.