‘We want to ensure we can continue delivering high quality homes, housing and support services’
14:55, 11 Aug 2025Updated 15:23, 11 Aug 2025
Places for People, one of the UK’s biggest housing associations, unveil seven new homes at Stonehridge Park in Eastville, Bristol(Image: Places for People)
One of the biggest housing associations in Britain has announced it will merge with a smaller but troubled Bristol housing association, that manages 900 homes in and around the city. Places for People and Elim Housing are set to merge, with the smaller organisation Elim becoming a subsidiary one to the bigger one.
Places for People manages leisure centres, community buildings and a total of 245,000 properties across the country, including thousands in Bristol and the Greater Bristol area. Elim Housing, which was set up by a church in Eastbourne to manage two properties. It expanded into Bristol in the 1980s and is now based in Thornbury.
But Elim said it is facing bigger challenges to meet its ambitions to create more homes – particularly for vulnerable people – without the backing of being part of a bigger organisation. Earlier this year, Elim announced that a block of flats it manages in Bristol which was built just 14 years ago would have to be demolished and redeveloped, because fixing its structural issues would be too costly.
Elim manages homes across Bristol – particularly in St Pauls and Easton – as well as in North Somerset, South Gloucestershire and into south Wales and the Midlands. Its chief executive is Paul Smith, a former councillor who was in charge of housing at City Hall in the late 2010s.
He said being part of Places for People would bring more investment to the homes they manage. “The need for greater investment in homes and services is the main reason Elim has considered a merger with Places for People,” he said. “Elim is an ambitious organisation, and we are proud of our history and the difference our homes and specialist services make in the areas where we work.
“We want to ensure we can continue delivering high quality homes, housing and support services. The current economic environment has made it increasingly difficult for us to achieve our ambitions alone. The proposed merger will mean we can benefit from the greater resources which Places for People can provide. It will help us to improve the quality of your homes, build more new homes and improve services quicker than we can alone,” he added.
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The merger is just a proposal at the moment, and people who live in Elim homes in the Bristol area have been told what the plan is. Elim will become a subsidiary of Places for People by this December and, although it would keep the name and brand initially, the homes and the brand would be ‘fully integrated’ into Places for People within two years.
“While Elim is a subsidiary of Places for People, we will continue to operate as we do now,” said Mr Smith. “However, we would also be able to access greater resources provided by Places for People which we cannot currently. This will help to improve our efficiency as an organisation, and increase the investment in our homes and services to our customers.
Paul Smith, the former cabinet member for housing at Bristol City Council(Image: David Betts Photography)
Tenants have been reassured that there won’t be any changes to their tenancies or their rent, but Elim said there will be benefits from the merger. “Places for People will invest in Elim’s homes. This will mean that some planned repairs projects which have been delayed could now be delivered,” said a spokesperson.
“It will also allow us to deliver a repairs service and investment programme that will improve the quality of homes and ensure we are meeting new standards.
“The scale of Places for People’s services and the number of homes they own and manage will mean that many more Elim customers will be able to access services and contractors that are based in their local area,” they added.