South Yorkshire Housing Association (SYHA) and Places for People have announced that they have entered merger discussions.

South Yorkshire Housing Association owns over 5,000 homes, including social housing, care and support properties, leasehold and shared ownership homes.  They also provide over 30 care, health and support contracts with strategic partners including local authorities and the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, health and social care services, and national government.

The intention, subject to negotiations progressing well, is that SYHA will become a subsidiary of the Places for People Group.

Larry Gold, chief executive of South Yorkshire Housing Association, said: ”Our proposed partnership with Places for People will enable us to continue our 50-plus year legacy providing high-quality homes and services. This is the right thing to do for our customers, communities, employees and partners, and the partnership will be hugely beneficial for Sheffield City Region. As we progress with our discussions, we will ensure that our customers are kept informed about the partnership and have the opportunity to share their views.”

Greg Reed, group CEO for People, added: ”South Yorkshire, and specifically Sheffield, is a core region for PfP and, like SYHA, we’ve been here for many years. Bringing our organisations together – pooling our skills and experience – will make us a greater force for good in the region, enabling us, under one group, to have a more significant impact, and further supporting the development of thriving Communities. We’re excited about what we can achieve together, and we’ll provide an update on our conversations in due course.”

SYHA is a not-for-profit social landlord with charitable status with over 5,000 homes throughout South Yorkshire, and in North and West Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. We also provide a range of care, health and wellbeing services. Our vision is for our customers to settle at home, live well and realise their potential.

Places for People is a broad Community-focused leading UK social enterprise of 13,000 People who create, manage, and support thriving Communities across 245,000 homes – including 74,000 for social rent – through the largest development pipeline in our sector, in over 100 leisure centres, and for over a million Customers. In 2023-24, we created over £334m of social value for our Customers and Communities.