Black housing association's bankruptcy to be probed

An investigation will be launched into the collapse of London's biggest black housing association.

Ujima, which owned property worth almost £1billion and had received more than £300million of public money for building homes, went bust this month, the first housing association to do so.

The Housing Corporation has said it will launch an independent inquiry into the demise of Ujima, set up 30 years ago to find homes for single young black people.

Steve Douglas, chief executive of the Housing Corporation, said: "We believe it is proper to commission an independent inquiry to see what lessons can be learned."

Ujima has now been taken over by the London and Quadrant Housing Group. The 12,000 tenants have been told they will not lose their homes as long as they have a proper tenancy agreement.

Ujima's supporters have criticised the association's takeover. Lord Ouseley, the former head of the Commission for Racial Equality, said: "It's left black-led community groups feeling they've been kicked in the teeth, and marks the end of Ujima's invaluable support for the capital's minority groups."