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Dear Sir, The recent announcement that the troubled Springboard Housing Association is considering moving into the Genesis Housing Group is quite staggering. Genesis, or in reality, Paddington Churches H.A., colonised West Hampstead H.A. in February 2001 when we had a debt of £3m. Their first moves were to tear up a list of action prepared by the Housing Corporation's troubleshooter, Greg Lomax, and give shares to about two dozen of their people. As a result of the first action, on the account of just one tenant only, £14,000 in legal costs has been wasted, and as a result of the second, WHHA have lost all powers of self determination. All WHHA staff of any significant seniority have gone; this includes the good, the bad and the ugly. Under their direction, our debt almost quadrupled to £11.5m whereupon they sold £2.5m of street properties only to reduce the debt by £2m, leaving it at £9.2m. For this service, WHHA tenants have been billed £2m in management charges. In a Windscale inspired move, Genesis have changed our name to Pathmeads (PCHA's absurd team have managed eight millions of additional debt so far). At the recent Annual General Meeting, £525,000 was seen to be booked to a group of about 97 tenants, and an explanation was refused by Tom McGregor, WHHA/Pathmeads CEO, and director of regeneration of Genesis. The Housing Corporation's message is "Don't worry. The auditors check everything". We've heard this before. Our tripled debt is costing £2,500 per day in interest charges alone, and when tenants asked for an assurance that Ground 9 of the Housing Act would not be used to empty us out of property to sell it, this assurance was refused by Mr. McGregor. (This is minuted in the minutes of the 2002 A.G.M.) When we entered Genesis, WHHA/Pathmeads shareholders were promised the benefits of their superior management and the financial muscle of their £1B group. The former doesn't exist and the latter is withheld. Springboard's alternative to Genesis is reported to be Moat H.A. Why did Moat refuse to join Genesis a few years ago? Genesis' CEO, Mr. Anu Vedi, must see his intervention at WHHA as a success, and is now ready to weave his special brand of magic on Springboard. If boiler plated guarantees are in position, and if this is to be a merger of independent equals, then fairness just might prevail. Otherwise we may be looking at the merger of the penguin and the mackerel. Yours sincerely
Peter Rutherford. Chair Pathmeads (WHHA) T.A. |
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