More than £52m reserved for social housing at risk after collapse of investment firms

More than £52m in public money earmarked for social housing is at risk after the partial collapse of one of the England’s fastest-growing housing providers. Two of the investment companies run by the Heylo Housing group, which is backed by the asset managers Blackrock, have gone into administration leaving the government regulator scrambling to find a rescue deal to protect taxpayers’ money and prevent 3,500 social homes switching to the private sector. The saga has exposed serious flaws in a deregulation of housing conducted by the government and has raised questions about attracting new investors into social housing, and giving public money to for-profit companies. It has also set an unprecedented challenge for the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) which oversees the landlords of 2.9m social homes, and risks tarnishing its record of never having lost a single property or any public money to a financial default. One of the companies, or investment pods, in the Heylo group, went into administration owing £46.46m in unsecured credit to Homes England – the government agency that allocates public money for social housing. The other company owes Homes England £6.21m . Homes England has estimated its total grant exposure is nearer £43m. This was granted from 2018 to 2023 in its shared ownership affordable homes programme under which residents could buy a partial share of the homes and pay rent on the remaining share. …