The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) has published a non-compliant Regulatory Judgement (RJ) for Shepherds Bush Housing Association (SBHA).  SBHA has over 5,000 homes in management across West London.

The RSH first placed SBHA on its GUR list in December 2021, as it was investigating matters which may have impacted on SBHA’s compliance with the governance element of the Governance and Financial Viability Standard.  An updated GUR listing, dated March 2022, said that the RSH was investigating matters which may have impacted on SBHA’s compliance with both the governance and financial viability elements of the Standard.  SBHA has been downgraded from G2 to G3 but retained its V2 rating for Viability.  SBHA was originally downgraded to G2 in April 2020 due to a failure to meet statutory requirements in relation to electrical safety and asbestos safety.

The RSH’s RJ says that due to failings in financial governance arrangements, inaccuracies in Board reporting and a lack of effective Board oversight and scrutiny, SBHA came within weeks of a potential loan covenant breach, which required it to seek an emergency waiver from a third party to achieve covenant compliance at the year end.

The RSH also has ongoing concerns about SBHA’s data quality with its Board continuing to question the quality and reliability of the data it is receiving.

In addition the RSH says that SBHA has not been sufficiently co-regulatory in its approach, including in relation to concerns about fire safety, DHS compliance and the potential covenant breach.

SBHA’s V2 rating reflects limited headroom in the early years of its business plan with exposure to sales on the housing market and an ongoing requirement to deliver efficiency savings.  The management of those risks will depend on accurate and timely financial reporting, monitoring and data integrity.

All of the RJs, RNs and GUR listings published by the RSH can be viewed on the RSH’s website here.