Mercian Housing Association joins Circle Anglia

Circle Anglia, one of the UK’s leading providers of affordable housing, last week celebrated its partnership with West Midlands based Mercian Housing Association at a welcome reception at the Malmaison Hotel, Birmingham.

Mercian Housing Association will become a partner in the Circle Anglia group on 1 October 2009, following approval from the Tenant Services Authority (TSA).

Mercian will be Circle Anglia’s lead partner in the West Midlands. Circle Anglia’s core goal is to enhance life chances and create thriving communities, and Mercian and Circle Anglia will work in partnership to achieve this in the region. The partnership will bring 3,400 rented and shared ownership properties to Circle Anglia, meaning the group will collectively own and manage over 51,500 properties.

The partnership will enable Mercian to invest even more in creating sustainable communities and help realise its potential in meeting the housing and regeneration needs of the region. In addition, the partnership will provide Mercian with the opportunity to further develop and extend the work of its affordable finance service ART Homes Ltd and extend the service to the rest of the Circle Anglia group. ART Homes, authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority, helps provide vulnerable homeowners with access to affordable finance to help them achieve decent homes.

Speaking at the event Mark Rogers, group chief executive of Circle Anglia, said: “We’re very pleased to welcome Mercian as partner. Our joint vision and values to will help us build a partnership that we will both benefit from, enabling us to enhance many more life chances throughout the UK. We will do this by making improvements to people’s homes; creating opportunities for individuals to access training and employment; taking action to improve the health and lives of older people and providing support and guidance services to young people.”

Laurice Ponting, chief executive of Mercian, said: “We’re delighted that Mercian is joining Circle Anglia. Circle Anglia understands what Mercian is trying to achieve and we will work in partnership to help improve services for our residents and to bring many benefits to our communities. Working in partnership with Circle Anglia, Mercian will have more resources and access to a wider range of expertise and support to make a real, lasting difference in creating thriving neighbourhoods and communities.”