Housing charity pledges action after Panorama probe

Charity

A housing charity that featured in a BBC Panorama documentary this week has said it is reviewing all aspects of its governance and compliance work.

The programme alleged that the founder of My Space Housing Solutions used the charity to inflate the value of properties before he sold them on for private profit.

The charity said in a statement that “in the past we have made mistakes”.

The Charity Commission told Third Sector it opened a compliance case into My Space Housing Solutions last month.

The BBC alleged that, in one case, a property company bought a block of flats in Yorkshire for £800,000 and sold it to an investment firm later the same day for double the amount.

The added value came from a 20-year lease immediately agreed with My Space Housing Solutions, which meant the new owners had access to guaranteed income provided by housing benefits and other support, the BBC said.

Panorama reported it had seen evidence that more than 100 properties were bought by the same businessman then leased to the charity.

A spokesperson for the charity said: “It is distressing that My Space was part of the BBC Panorama programme into the lease-based housing model.

“We are currently actively reviewing all aspects of our compliance and governance.

“We acknowledge that in the past we have made mistakes in our governance and we are currently looking at all of our governance procedures and reviewing and strengthening our board structure.

“We continue to work closely with the Charity Commission and remain under its scrutiny and interrogation.”

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