SNG (Sovereign Network Group) was formed in 2023, following the merger of Network Homes and Sovereign Housing Association. Although our name is new, our long-term commitment to people and places stretches back many decades to the 1970s, with roots starting in Brent, London, and Newbury in Berkshire.
We’re proud of our heritage, and that we’ve been able to expand our reach so that we can provide good, affordable homes to people in London and across the South and West of England.
Brent was our original borough in London. We started life in February 1974, as Brent People’s Housing Association (BPHA), acquiring our first home for rent in Willesden.
In 1976 we acquired the Roundwood Estate in Harlesden, also in Brent and nearby, in 1978, we built our first sheltered homes for older people.
The 1980s was a time of great change in housing with the election of Margaret Thatcher, ushering the Right to Buy legislation in 1980 with home ownership being encouraged.
We developed our first shared ownership home for sale in 1982 and we saw the birth of Network as a brand, with BPHA becoming Network Housing Association in 1988.
In 1989, we established roots in South East England when Newbury District Council, now West Berkshire Council, decided to transfer its 7,109 homes into a new housing association.
It was one of the first transfers in the country, and meant that the new West Berkshire Housing Association, under the guidance of Lady Celia Norrie and Betty Ridley, could take care and invest in the homes for the long-term.
The Network brand grew rapidly through the 1990s, taking transfers of council homes and acquiring smaller housing associations.
We also saw the creation of Sovereign as a brand in 1994 as we grew beyond our West Berkshire roots and began to build more new affordable homes in the South and West of England.
In 1995, Riversmead Housing Association was formed to manage nearly 4,000 homes for East Herts Council, which is the beginning of our presence in the East of England.
1998 was a big year as we provided our first key worker homes for NHS workers at Northwick Park in North West London.
We expanded further in the 2000s, creating group structures for our main regions. In 2003 we established Network Housing Group for our homes in London and East of England, and in 2005, we created Sovereign Housing Group for our homes in the South of England.
Expansion of the Network Housing Group brand
In 2000, Brent Council transferred its sheltered housing and resident care homes to Network. East Herts Council transferred around 4,000 homes in 2002 following a successful tenant vote and, in 2004, Network Housing Group expanded into student housing.
In 2007, Lambeth Council transferred over 1,400 homes at Stockwell Park to create a new Network Housing Group subsidiary, Community Trust Housing (now SW9 Community Housing), to facilitate estate regeneration following a successful tenant vote.
Expansion of the Sovereign Group brand
In 2005, Twynham Housing Association joined the Sovereign Group brand, providing 2,500 homes in Christchurch, Dorset.
Then, in 2007, The Vale Housing Association - with 5,400 homes across Oxfordshire, joined Sovereign.
In 2009, Kingfisher HVHS - with 10,200 homes throughout Hampshire, also joined the group.
We consolidated our group structures to create two main organisations. In 2011, we created Sovereign Housing Association, bringing together all of our subsidiaries in the South and South West. In 2016, Spectrum Housing Group, which had a long history of providing quality affordable homes across the south of England and the Isle of Wight, merged with Sovereign - providing 55,000 homes across the South of England.
In 2016, we also brought together all of our operations in London and the East of England under one organisation: Network Homes. We maintained SW9 Community Housing as a subsidiary to manage the day-to-day housing services for around 1,500 homes located on the Stockwell Park estate, on behalf of parent company, Network Homes.
In 2023, SNG (Sovereign Network Group) was formed through the merger of Sovereign Housing Association and Network Homes and we then became a single legal entity in April 2025.
The future
SNG has become one of the largest housing associations in the country, but we’ve held on to our local focus and our commitment to providing quality, affordable homes.