The Industrial Dwellings Society has taken over the Otto Schiff Housing Association in a link-up which IDS chief executive Paul Westbrook believes will signicantly enhance its work.
"Despite being the largest and oldest Jewish-led housing association, IDS has experienced difficulties in prioritising Jewish applicants for our homes," he explained.
"We will benefit from OSHA's rules which specifically prioritise Holocaust survivors, Jewish refugees and [in the absence of those] other Jewish applicants."
IDS has been working with OSHA since 2003, managing its sheltered housing in Crouch End and Hampstead for some years prior to the transfer of residents to alternative accommodation.
In the new housing group, IDS and OSHA remain independent associations. OSHA retains a leasehold interest in a number of flats at Selig Court in Jewish Care's Golders Green campus and in the Langdon Foundation's housing complex in Edgware.
IDS manages more than 1,500 properties in Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Southwark, Redbridge, Barnet, Haringey, Camden and Hertsmere. It is about to complete small developments in Bushey and Mill Hill.
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