The Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) welcomes John Hills’ impressive report on the future of social housing and is committed to taking forward a national debate on the issues raised within it.

Speaking at the launch of John’s report Sarah Webb, CIH Deputy Chief Executive, said: "The two most important issues to emerge from John’s report are the links between social housing and worklessness and the need to tackle our least mixed estates. We can make some progress on the former with relatively low cost ideas like providing training and job advice – but the second is harder."

She continued: "As a sector we know how to work with communities to remodel estates, but progress will depend on an availability of land and resources."

John Hills challenged the sector to take forward the issues raised in his report and in response CIH will re-open its web-based discussion forum to enable practitioners from across the sector to contribute to the debate.

*ENDS*

Issued on behalf of the CIH by Jill Dwyer, Media Relations Officer, CIH Press Office, Octavia House, Westwood Way, Coventry CV4 8JP. Telephone 024 7685 1780. Fax: 024 7642 1756. Mob: 07786 716961. E-mail: press@cih.org

Editors Notes:

The CIH web-based discussion forum will re-open for all those interested in the future of social housing to debate the proposals in John Hills’ report from Friday 23 February. It can be found at http://hillsreview.cih.co.uk

The CIH is the professional body for individuals working in housing. Its primary aim is to maximise the contribution that housing professionals make to the well-being of communities. CIH has nearly 20,000 individual members working for local authorities, housing associations, Arms Length Management Organisations, Government bodies, educational establishments and the private sector. Further information is available at: www.cih.org

‘Making the Case for Housing’ is a CIH initiative to influence the next Comprehensive Spending Review. It highlights the work of the housing sector not only in helping to deliver sustainable communities but also in supporting a much wider set of social priorities such as raising educational performance, improving health and reducing crime. Continued investment in housing is critical if we are to achieve our mission of contributing to the well-being of communities.