whg puts social value at £58.7m for 2025/26 as it builds 270 homes

Midlands housing association whg has put the social value it generated in 2025/26 at £58.7m, an increase of £5.3m on the previous year, in a Social Value Report that also records 270 new homes built during the year.

The landlord said the figure captured customers staying secure in their homes, gaining financial stability, moving into work and improving their health, together with the wider benefits of investment in existing and new homes.

Fay Shanahan, Corporate Director of Operations and IT at whg, said: "Social value helps us understand the wider impact of our work and make informed decisions about where our resources can achieve the greatest benefit."

The report maps its activity to the four aims of whg's Social Justice Strategy 2025-2030: tackling economic inequality, strengthening communities, investing in homes, and developing an influential voice.

Homes and investment

On the housing side, whg said it invested £34m in modernisation and energy efficiency improvements and spent £52.1m on major works to existing homes in 2025/26. Its development activity contributed £164.2m to the local economy, according to the report.

The 270 homes built in the year sit against the association's stated plan, set out on its investors page, to build 300 new homes a year across the region as a Homes England strategic partner. Its development strategy commits it to at least 2,000 new homes in the six years to 2030.

whg's investors page puts total investment in existing homes in 2025/26 at £80.9m and says the group owns and manages around 22,918 homes in 22 local authorities across the Midlands, with an annual turnover of £147.4m. Moody's upgraded the association to an A2 rating with a stable outlook, reaffirmed in February 2026, and it holds G1 governance and V1 financial viability ratings from the regulator, with a C1 consumer standard rating added.

Money advice and community work

whg's Money Advice Team helped customers access £6.6m in previously unclaimed benefits across 2,527 cases in 2025/26, and supported 60 households to avoid eviction where financial problems threatened their tenancy.

Both figures can be set against whg's 2023/24 Social Value Report, which gave a total social value of £46.4m, £4.8m of benefits accessed and 106 households safeguarded from eviction.

Measure	2023/24	2025/26
Social value generated	£46.4m	£58.7m
Benefits accessed through money advice	£4.8m	£6.6m
Households helped to avoid eviction	106	60

The Stronger Communities Team engaged 2,896 customers in health, wellbeing, employment, training and digital inclusion programmes. Within that, whg said, 397 customers joined a confidence-building programme, 197 completed financial and digital literacy training and 82 secured jobs.

The association also secured £594,000 in external funding for its Young Person's Accommodation Programme, Youth Trailblazer employment activity and Children's Champions programme. Its Youth Trailblazer work was featured by the West Midlands Combined Authority and the National Housing Federation, the report said.

Shanahan said: "These results show clear progress and give us a stronger understanding of where we can go further." whg said it would continue to use data and customer insight to direct investment and strengthen programmes, with partnerships remaining central.

Background

whg was formed in 2003 and started in Walsall, where most of its homes remain, before expanding across the Midlands to areas including Telford, Wolverhampton, Worcestershire and Staffordshire. It employs more than 850 colleagues, most of them living in Walsall.

On 2 April 2026 the association said it had invested more than £1bn in existing homes and neighbourhoods across Walsall since launch and had built more than 2,500 new homes in the borough. Its schemes there include the £115m Goscote regeneration, which delivered 992 homes over 20 years, and the £44m Lockside joint venture with Lovell.

whg said in the same April announcement that it is exploring a proposed merger with Aspire Housing, which would create an organisation managing around 32,000 homes.