Homelessness support charities St Mungo’s and Broadway will merge this April, with Howard Sinclair, current chief executive of Broadway, leading the newly-merged organisation.

The new charity will be known, initially, as St Mungo’s Broadway. St Mungo's chief executive, Charles Fraser, will step down after almost 20 years leading the organisation.

The chair of the newly-merged charity, St Mungo’s Broadway, will be Paul Doe, the current chair of St Mungo’s. Sir Leigh Lewis, the current chair of Broadway, will be vice-chair.

Doe said: "The merger of St Mungo's and Broadway harnesses the strengths of two expert charities to create a bold new organisation committed to improving the lives of homeless and excluded people."

St Mungo's reported an income of £49m last year, more than three times the income of Broadway last year which stood at £15.6m.

St Mungo’s and Broadway have both been pioneers in sections of the emerging social investment market.

Broadway runs a social investment fund which buys accommodation to support homeless people that launched in 2012. It described it as a first at the time. And St Mungo’s is involved in the first social impact bond launched by the Greater London Authority in 2012. Dubbed the ‘GLA social impact bond’ it will support around 800 rough sleepers in London until 2015. 

Both charities also have a strong union presence among staff. Towards the end of last year, six workers at a hostel run by St Mungo’s went on strike for a week over a dispute about pay and conditions.

And last summer Unison members from Broadway expressed concern about the possibility of a partnership between the charity and Serco, after a staff conference about partnerships was attended by a Serco representative.