Two housing associations are set to join forces to create a 30,000-home organisation, with the majority being based in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire.
The boards of Paradigm Housing Group and Settle Group have approved the business case to explore the partnership, while if it goes through the new association will be known as SettleParadigm.
The target date for entering into a partnership is October 2025, while it is subject to further approval by both boards and the relevant shareholders. The final decision should be made by the summer.
Matthew Bailes, chief executive at Paradigm and Rod Cahill, interim chief executive at Settle, said: “We are delighted to announce these proposals today. Paradigm and Settle share the same geography and focus on core social housing.
“Both organisations want to deliver excellent services, high-quality homes and more new affordable homes to help tackle the housing crisis.
“We believe that by joining together, we can work more efficiently and cost-effectively, achieving more for our residents and the communities where we work.
“With the proposed addition of the homes from L&Q, we will be able to deliver the advantages of scale while remaining locally focused.”
Paradigm Housing Group has almost 17,000 homes mainly in Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire.
Meanwhile, Paradigm is in the process of buying almost 3,500 homes in South Buckinghamshire from L&Q housing association.
Settle Group has over 10,000 homes across Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and South Cambridgeshire.
If proposals go ahead the new organisation would be the largest housing association working in the region.
The target date for entering into a partnership is October 2025. The partnership will be subject to further approval by both boards and the relevant shareholders.
Vicky Savage, executive director for development & sales at L&Q, said: “We have started to discuss the details of a possible transfer to Paradigm and residents will be formally consulted before a final decision is made.
“We believe that Paradigm, a locally based organisation, may be better placed to provide an excellent service in the area.
“As an organisation, we consider homes for transfer where they sit outside our core areas of Greater London and Greater Manchester.
“This supports our strategic decision to focus our activity on areas where we have the greatest concentration of homes, enabling us to provide responsive, joined up services which offer best value for residents.”
