Winchester Working Men’s Housing Society Limited is a Registered Society under the Co-operative & Community Benefit Societies Act (CCBS), and has charitable objectives and rules. In 2022 it decided to start using a shorter trading name, Winchester Housing Society, while preserving its original historic name and corporate identity. When it was set up in 1911, by local philanthropically-minded people in the city, it was for the purpose of providing housing in Winchester for low rents to those in need. Today the Society is run by a volunteer Committee of Management, drawn from suitably skilled and knowledgeable people from the local area, and also including some tenants. The Committee meets quarterly, and delegates the day to day running of the Society and its housing to the Chief Executive/Secretary supported by a small team of staff and contractors.

Winchester Housing Society is a trading name of Winchester Working Men's Housing Society, which is a registered society under the Co-operative & Community Benefit Societies Act 2014, number 5338R, and it is a former Industrial & Provident Society. It is a private registered provider of social housing, regulated by the Regulator of Social Housing, number L2732.

The Society is responsible for ensuring that the houses and flats it owns, provide suitable homes for its tenants and their households. This means not just day to day maintenance and repair, but also a planned and cyclical approach to major renovations and modernisations. Since their construction in 1911, Society homes have received several new and replacement installations for central heating, kitchens, bathrooms, windows, doors and roof systems. Today our challenges include contributing to UK targets for zero carbon, and meetiing the needs of modern households. To help us monitor and plan in the long term, the Society takes the advice of specialists and recognises best practise and standards in the social housing sector. Our tenants have a responsibility to report maintenance and repair needs to the Society promptly so that we can keep their homes in good condition, but we also undertake professional surveys to review and monitor general condition, and there is a continual programme of inspections and certifications for gas safety and servicing, electrical safety, and routine asbestos monitoring.

When the Society was established in 1911, it was for the purpose of providing housing in Winchester for low rents to those in need. This is a charitable purpose. It is known as an exempt charity, and the Society is not allowed to make profits for the purpose of paying out dividends to anyone. The Society’s income comprises rents, and its expenditure comprises running costs such as maintenance, staffing, insurance and long term improvement projects. Most years, the Society will have more income than expenditure (in other words, it makes a Surplus), which it needs to generate and save to pay for very large projects that will be needed every few decades such as roof works, drains and water supplies, and other such expensive or unexpected needs. This is the only way that such costs can be paid for, to secure the long term future of the housing on the estate. The saved Surpluses are known as Reserves, and the Society looks after its Reserves carefully by placing them in suitable banks or investments, until they are needed. Any interest earned on the Reserves is added on to the Society’s savings. Surpluses of income over expenditure that are kept within the Society in this way are not called profits, and this is why the Society is also described as “not for profit.”