MORE affordable homes in Worcestershire and Herefordshire could become available following the government’s decision to agree approval for West Mercia Housing Group to join forces with another leading midlands housing association.

Coventry-based Whitefriars Housing Group will now join Harden Housing Association, Nexus Housing and Kemble Housing Association as a member of the West Mercia Housing Group. The new joint organisation will formally go live in January 2009.

This move, which will see the organisations sharing resources and expertise, is expected to result in the building of more affordable homes and improved services for residents.

Whitefriars Housing Group owns and manages about 17,000 homes across Coventry. The integration with West Mercia Housing Group will form a combined group which manages about 23,000 homes across the region.

WMH Group, which is based in Bromsgrove, manages more than 6,000 affordable homes across the West Midlands, Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

Both Whitefriars and West Mercia are members of the Spectrum Development Partnership consortium to build new affordable homes and have been working together on a number of projects in recent years.

Whitefriars chief executive Howard Farrand, who is currently vice-president of the Chartered Institute of Housing, will become the new group chief executive. Pat Brandum, who is currently chief executive of West Mercia Housing Group, will take on the position of deputy chief executive of the enlarged group.

As the two organisations work in different areas of the West Midlands there are not expected to be redundancies among operational staff who provide services for residents.

Rents and tenancy agreements will not be affected by this integration.