The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) has published a non-compliant Regulatory Judgement (RJ) for My Space Housing Solutions, in which the provider is graded G4 for Governance and V4 for Financial Viability. In addition the RSH is in the process of serving an Enforcement Notice on My Space under section 219 to 224 of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008, as it lacks assurance that the current Board possesses the skills, capacity and ability to deliver the changes required without the use of the RSH’s regulatory powers.
My Space provides supported housing to a range of client groups and operates the lease-based model of provision. In its 2022 Statistical Data Return, My Space reported that it had 1,817 units of Specialised Supported Housing (SSH) at 31 March 2022. The RSH had previously graded My Space as G3 and V3 in an RJ published in December 2020.
The revised RJ reflects the RSH’s concerns in relation to:
- the resignation of key staff and Board members
- inappropriate appointments to the Board
- the failure of My Space to mange its affairs with an appropriate degree of skill, independence, diligence, effectiveness, prudence and foresight
- non-compliance with its chosen code of governance
- a lack of assurance that My Space is solvent, with an apparent reliance on continued financial support from third parties to be able to continue trading
- the absence of a robust business planning, risk and control framework, within which financial forecasts are based on appropriate and reasonable assumptions
- a wide range of property transactions that have been entered into by My Space with a connected property developer and
- a lack of assurance that My Space’s stock meets the definition of SSH for the purposes of compliance with the Rent Standard.
In August 2022, the Charity Commission launched a statutory inquiry under section 46 of the Charity Act 2011 to investigate My Space in relation to potential conflicts of interest and possible mismanagement of funds.
All of the RJs, Regulatory Notices and GUR listings published by the RSH can be viewed on the RSH’s website here.