On the road...part two
On 10th October I flew from Hong Kong to Toronto to attend the Tri-Country conference which, this year, involved New Zealand and Hong Kong as well as Canada and America. It was my first trip to Canada. The first day of the event was a conference open to housing professionals from across Canada and was opened by the Mayor of Toronto who has taken a personal interest in housing and homelessness - showing what can be achieved with clear political leadership.
The remaining three days were the Tri-Country Conference proper with 20 delegates from each country taking part. We took people from across the sector including two young professionals (award winning students Tanya MacGregor, left, and Jo Flood pictured above), Steve Amos from Barclays, Steve Trussler from Wates, Julia Unwin from JRF and Lesley Morphy from Crisis (the organisation that I am collecting money for through my Presidential Appeal). The three themes for the conference were: governance, young people and new financial models.
We were surprised by the high numbers of street homeless people despite a new initiative called 'streets to homes' that finds permanent accommodation and support for homeless people. We also saw a project called 'Homeward Bound' that supports homeless women into education and work. We visited a regeneration project where a real effort has been made to engage young people and saw a video made by children about their concerns around demolition.
By the end of the 4 days of learning and networking the primary concern for all three of our delegations was the impact of the credit crunch on our efforts to improve the supply of affordable housing and the dangers of encouraging low income households into owner occupation (3 million homes in the US have been abandoned). It was particularly interesting to reflect on the fact that Canada has been less impacted than the UK and US by sub-prime lending, in part because of stricter regulation of mortgage lending.
My overall impressions from the whole trip are: firstly, we are all facing similar issues although the methods we have for tackling them have to vary because of different politics and institutional and financial structures. Our success in creating effecting housing markets is based on having a supply of creative and innovative housing professionals who are dedicated to finding solutions and making things work for some of the most vulnerable people around the world. Secondly, UK housing policy is one of the most advanced and comprehensive in the world. Thirdly, CIH is respected around the world for championing professionalism, for nurturing the next generation of talented individuals and for our objective thought leadership.
The remaining three days were the Tri-Country Conference proper with 20 delegates from each country taking part. We took people from across the sector including two young professionals (award winning students Tanya MacGregor, left, and Jo Flood pictured above), Steve Amos from Barclays, Steve Trussler from Wates, Julia Unwin from JRF and Lesley Morphy from Crisis (the organisation that I am collecting money for through my Presidential Appeal). The three themes for the conference were: governance, young people and new financial models.
We were surprised by the high numbers of street homeless people despite a new initiative called 'streets to homes' that finds permanent accommodation and support for homeless people. We also saw a project called 'Homeward Bound' that supports homeless women into education and work. We visited a regeneration project where a real effort has been made to engage young people and saw a video made by children about their concerns around demolition.
By the end of the 4 days of learning and networking the primary concern for all three of our delegations was the impact of the credit crunch on our efforts to improve the supply of affordable housing and the dangers of encouraging low income households into owner occupation (3 million homes in the US have been abandoned). It was particularly interesting to reflect on the fact that Canada has been less impacted than the UK and US by sub-prime lending, in part because of stricter regulation of mortgage lending.
My overall impressions from the whole trip are: firstly, we are all facing similar issues although the methods we have for tackling them have to vary because of different politics and institutional and financial structures. Our success in creating effecting housing markets is based on having a supply of creative and innovative housing professionals who are dedicated to finding solutions and making things work for some of the most vulnerable people around the world. Secondly, UK housing policy is one of the most advanced and comprehensive in the world. Thirdly, CIH is respected around the world for championing professionalism, for nurturing the next generation of talented individuals and for our objective thought leadership.
posted by Howard Farrand at
13:19
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