On Tuesday 5th February 2020, Inside Housing posted an article online entitled: “Supported housing provider warned about high salaries by regulator paid bosses £215,000 each last year.”
Although some of the facts of this report are a matter of public record and are available on-line via the Regulator of Social Housing, we would like to take the opportunity to further clarify some of the inaccurate points raised for the benefit of our stakeholders and wider community.
Sustain’s mission is to provide vulnerable and homeless people with the opportunity to live in housing of a good standard, with support delivered by a trained local workforce. Having worked in this sector since 1993, Pauline Hughes, Chief Executive, formed Sustain in 2009 as a not for profit company, in response to a growing need for quality social housing-related support and accommodation for vulnerable and homeless people in the West Midlands. The organisation grew from small beginnings to around 500 properties today – with over 130 housing providers covering approximately 2,500 tenants.
In January 2019, Sustain was given a Regulatory Judgement report (4687) that highlighted non-compliance in a number of areas. A voluntary undertaking was agreed at the time and Sustain has been working towards compliance and has been in regular contact with the RSH throughout the process.
The issue around executive remuneration has been resolved after consultation and is now in line with market expectations.
The article in Inside Housing also referred to related party transactions that had occurred between Sustain and a number of companies linked to Sustain’s Directors. These transactions are with businesses that have been home providers to Sustain for a number of years and trade with Sustain on exactly the same terms as all of our 130+ providers. They supply quality homes, accommodation and support to some of the most vulnerable members of society. As part of its voluntary undertaking Sustain is working towards eliminating this conflict of interest whilst protecting its tenants interests. We expect this to be in the coming months.
Sustain would like to take this opportunity to reassure all stakeholders, staff and tenants that it continues to work as quickly as possible to rectify any outstanding governance issues and ensure full compliance with all points raised by the Regulator.