Town & Country Housing becomes a charity » Housing » 24dash.com

Town & Country Housing Group has been granted charitable status by the Charity Commission marking the final part of the Group’s restructure.

This will potentially save the Group more than £1million each year in tax in future years.

Chief Executive Jon Rosser said: “This money will be invested back into building and maintaining homes and providing quality services to our tenants and communities.”

The majority of housing associations have charitable status because of the nature of their work and for financial reasons.
Groups often keep a non-charitable arm to enable them to do work that is not classed as charitable.
In this way, Town & Country Living, which deals with the Group’s market rented properties, will remain as a non-charitable organisation.
Town & Country Living also provides shared ownership and key worker accommodation.

The change to charitable status will not affect the way that Town & Country Housing works on a day-to-day basis and it will continue to be regulated in the same way.

The decision to apply for charitable status was agreed by the Group’s Boards after consultation with tenants.

The Group has also created a new charitable Foundation which will undertake its community-based work and be able to apply for grants and donations.
Town & Country Foundation will provide grants to community projects, and training opportunities for local people.
It will also set up services to tackle issues such as money management and give residents more opportunities to get involved in community schemes and initiatives.

Mr Rosser said: “We are delighted that our charitable status has now been confirmed and the Foundation has been created.
“The final building block in the group restructure is now in place. This will help us to continue our work within our communities making a difference in people’s lives.”

Town & Country Housing Group is based in Tunbridge Wells, and provides 7,000 affordable homes across the South East. It is a Housing Corporation development partner.