Our history - 50 years of providing housing, care and support

The 1960s

Sanctuary’s journey began on 5 May 1969 when the organisation was founded under the name World of Property Housing Trust, and registered as a charity with the Charity Commission.

The Trust sought to raise funds to begin its growth and objective of providing housing and care to those who need them. To deliver this, local boards were set up throughout the country with volunteers from the property world who would be instrumental in helping secure financial donations and providing their expertise for development opportunities.

The 1970s

As the organisation grew, it changed its name to WPHT Housing Association on 22 October 1973.

The 1980s

Then based in Hertford, it officially became Sanctuary Housing Association on 6 February 1986.

In April 1989 Sanctuary and New Spiral joined forces in the largest ever merger of two housing associations, at that time, taking the combined stock to around 13,000 homes.

As Chief Executive of New Spiral at the time, David Bennett was instrumental in the move and became deputy Chief Executive of the combined associations with special responsibility for central services and finance.

The 1990s

David was appointed to the role of Chief Executive of Sanctuary in 1991 and continued to lead the organisation until his retirement at the end of 2018, through its most successful and sustained period of growth.

Sanctuary steadily built up a portfolio of homes and by the mid-1990s had stock of over 23,000 following a merger with Housemartin Housing Association in Humberside.

In 1995 Sanctuary Care was formed to provide high-quality care services for older people through the provision of residential care homes.

Until that point, all of Sanctuary’s work had been in England, but in 1995 Sanctuary Scotland was created to provide homes in Scotland.

In 1996 Staff Council was formed. This is the main channel of communication and consultation between staff and management.

2000-2009

Demonstrating the organisation’s ambition, the journey and growth of Sanctuary continued and in 2002, it relocated its corporate services to Worcester, in the Midlands. Worcester was selected because of its central location, proximity to the motorway network and its cost-effective office space.

In the following years a number of other organisations were acquired including Beth Johnson and Hereward Housing.

Then in 2008, a further six organisations joined Sanctuary Group, including Rochford Housing, Banbury Homes and Kingsmead Homes in London, increasing the number of homes under the Group’s management to over 70,000.

The following year saw Riviera Housing Trust in Torbay join Sanctuary, after the Group was selected as the Trust’s preferred partner to provide housing services and help develop new housing across the region.

2010 to date

Taking Sanctuary Group’s housing stock to around 73,000, this increased to nearly 80,000 over the next few years following smaller acquisitions including Cumbernauld Housing Partnership and Tenants First in Scotland.

Throughout this period Sanctuary Group continued to be a significant developer of social housing.

In 2013, at the request of the Regulator, Sanctuary Group stepped in to secure the future of Cosmopolitan Housing Group which was in serious financial difficulties.

It was the largest rescue deal the sector had ever seen and had Sanctuary Group not stepped up, it could have had far-reaching consequences on the ability of housing associations to borrow money privately, as to that point, there had never been a housing association go bankrupt. Sanctuary took on the management of around 13,500 homes protecting the social housing for residents and mitigating the risks around some of Cosmopolitan’s student housing leases. Today Chester, Liverpool and the surrounding areas are a vital part of Sanctuary Housing’s social housing provision.

David Bennett was recognised with a CBE in the 2015 New Year’s Honours List for his services to social housing and positive impact across the sector leadership. At the time, David reflected it was a recognition of the work of staff at Sanctuary Group.

Strengthening its operations in Scotland, Sanctuary’s three Scottish housing associations formally merged in 2016. The merger made Sanctuary Scotland one of the country’s largest social landlords with more than 6,500 homes, following overwhelming support from tenants.

Sanctuary Group significantly strengthened its care portfolio a year later with the addition of 35 care homes and a supported housing scheme from Embrace, taking the number under its ownership to around 100 across the country.

Today, Sanctuary Group is responsible for managing in excess of 100,000 homes throughout England and Scotland and employs more than 13,000 people who share the Group’s values – ambition, diversity, integrity, quality and sustainability.

View our growth