Sanctuary Housing is a large housing association based in Worcester, England. It is part of the Sanctuary Group, which also includes other organisations such as Sanctuary Care (running more than 100 care homes), Sanctuary Students (accommodation), Sanctuary Supported Living, Sanctuary Scotland (social housing) and Sanctuary Homes (development).[1]
Sanctuary was established as a charitable organisation in July 1969, originally named "World of Property Housing Trust", later known as "WPHT Housing Association", with the aim of providing housing and services for people in need.[2] Sanctuary Housing Association, now one of the largest not-for-profit housing providers in the UK, has its roots in a bold and strategic merger during the mid-1980s. Originally, the organisation operated under the name WPHT Housing Association (World of Property Housing Trust), established in 1969 with the mission to provide affordable housing for people in need.
A pivotal moment in Sanctuary’s history came in the autumn of 1985, with the appointment of Michael Annan as Chief Executive Officer of WPHT. Annan, an experienced housing leader, simultaneously took the helm of its sister organisations: First Rung Housing Association, Sanctuary Housing Association (then in its embryonic stages), and Sanctuary Land Company Ltd. The chair of WPHT at the time was Edward Erdman, a respected London estate agent, whose leadership and influence added further weight to the strategic direction being planned.
Together with company secretary Richard Gauntlett, Annan devised an ambitious plan to merge WPHT with the fledgling Sanctuary Housing Association by way of a “transfer of engagements”—a legal mechanism allowing one organisation to absorb the assets and liabilities of another. Remarkably, this would see the larger and more established WPHT transferring its resources into the younger and less resourced Sanctuary HA, effectively reversing the typical direction of such mergers.
This David-and-Goliath-style consolidation faced resistance from older WPHT members who were concerned about losing the identity and history of their association. However, at a special general meeting where every member held one vote, the motion was passed, demonstrating a democratic commitment to the future vision. The merger received critical support from the Housing Corporation, the government’s housing quango, and was formally enacted at the end of the financial year.
This strategic merger laid the foundations for what would become Sanctuary Group—a leading force in the UK housing sector, known for its wide-ranging social housing, care, and development services.
Accreditations
In June 2024, the Sanctuary central services teams (finance, technology, HR and sustainability) achieved gold Investors In People status. This follows gold awards for other parts of the organisation, including the development, student accommodation, housing, care and supported living divisions.[3]
Housing
Sanctuary's "The Orchards", Worcester
Sanctuary manages 120,000 properties in the United Kingdom,[4] with around 250,000 residents. Sanctuary is a trading name of Sanctuary Housing Association, an exempt charity in England and Wales.[5]
Sanctuary Homes received a £3.4 million grant from the Scottish Government in 2019, to finance housing developments in Paisley, Renfrewshire.[6]
Sanctuary runs a supported living operation for more than 500 people with learning disabilities.[7]
Since 2016, Sanctuary has been redeveloping the former Glasgow Victoria Infirmary as The Victoria, including into 209 homes.[8][9]
Mergers
Cornwall Council's Cornwall Care was absorbed into Sanctuary, who also acquired the council's care homes, in June 2022,[10] and Swan Housing Association became a Sanctuary subsidiary, with a view to a full merger in future, in February 2023.[11]
A proposed merger with Southern Housing Group was abandoned in April 2021.[12] Johnnie Johnson Housing, which manages nearly 5000 properties in the north and midlands of England, became a subsidiary of Sanctuary in 2024.[13]
Management, housing standards and severe maladministration
Sanctuary was the subject of a Channel 4Dispatches documentary in March 2019 in which tenants complained about various issues including damp, woodworm and flooding. The episode was titled "New Landlords from hell".[14] The Inside Housing website reported that a Sanctuary director claimed that investigations by regulators into issues arising from the documentary found no breaches of standards.[15]
Sanctuary was criticised in the House of Commons in July 2019 by Mark Francois, MP for Rayleigh and Wickford, who said that it was "highly dysfunctional"’ and had "consistently provided a poor maintenance service to many of my constituents over a period of many years". Shortly after this Rochford District Council, which was then Conservative controlled, issued a joint statement with the association in which it said it had worked “successfully” with the association for 12 years.[16]
The Housing Ombudsman has found multiple cases of severe maladministration by Sanctuary:
COMPLAINT 202107263 (report date March 2023) involving severe maladministration in relation to damp and complaint handling [17]
COMPLAINT 202224898 (report date October 2023) involving severe maladministration in relation to damp and complaint handling [18]
COMPLAINT 202216547 (report date November 2023) involving severe maladministration in relation to a leak and complaint handling [19]
In December 2023, Michael Gove (Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities) wrote to Sanctuary's CEO about the cases of severe maladministration found by the Housing Ombudsman.[20]
In March 2024 Sanctuary reported on its own review into two cases of severe maladministration.[21]
Sanctuary's published complaints statistics for 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024 note that the ombudsman found 13 cases of severe maladministration and 50 cases of maladministration.[22]
Empty homes
In March 2024 concerns were raised that Sanctuary had 250 empty homes in East Cambridgeshire.[23]
Pay disputes
In April 2024 workers from Sanctuary Housing staged walk-outs over a pay dispute.[24]
Sustainability
Along with four other housing associations – Abri, Anchor Hanover, Home Group and Hyde – Sanctuary is part of the Greener Futures Partnership (GFP). The GFP collectively owns 300,000 homes and members collaborate to improve energy efficiency and develop decarbonisation solutions.[25]
Racism
In 2020, Sanctuary was accused of treating a black woman, Selma Nicholls (the CEO of a talent agency), unfairly compared with her white neighbour. Nicholls was paying up to £1,000 more per month than her white neighbour for an identical property. Nicholls was refunded £30,000 for the overpayment, investigators said they could not be sure whether racism played a part.[26]
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