Homes for Reading to close

FOLLOWING an extensive consultation with tenants, Reading Borough Council has confirmed its wholly owned housing company Homes for Reading will be closed down.

Tenants of the properties have been written to directly by the Council to explain the decision, and to offer personal help and support to find alternative accommodation when their tenancies end, which in some cases is in two years’ time.

A full consultation was held with tenants, including meetings with senior staff where tenants expressed their views about the situation. In response to this the Council carefully re-considered all its options, taking into account specific ideas put forward by tenants, and re-commissioning external experts to consider each possible course of action.

The 101 homes will be transferred, when each individual tenancy ends, to the Council’s mainstream housing stock, to be made available as much-needed key worker homes at affordable rents. 

Councillor Matt Yeo, Lead Councillor for Housing, said: 

“I’d like to thank all the tenants who took part in the consultation for their valued input and their engagement.

“We have considered their feedback and comments and we have arrived at this conclusion having considered every possible option.

“I recognise the impact this decision will have on the 94 families who are still in these properties, and I am sorry for the disruption and inconvenience it may cause them. Officers from the council will be working actively with every one of our tenants between now and 2026 to help them find alternative suitable housing.

“We are committed to ensuring that they can all make the transition to other suitable homes with our support.”

“Ultimately the difficult financial circumstances all councils now find themselves in mean we have a responsibility to look after our finances to support the provision of services that residents rely on. We must prioritise the interests of all residents and communities we serve, who depend on the Council remaining financially viable.”

Homes for Reading was set up in 2016 to buy properties on the open market and let them at open market rents, with occupants being private tenants paying market rents. However changes to local authority lending rules, the housing market, interest rates on borrowing, and other external factors have in recent years affected the viability of the company. The decision has been taken after careful consideration of the company’s finances and an independent analysis of options available, to safeguard the wider provision of Council services to all residents.