On the road...impressions of housing on three continents... part one

In October I attended an anniversary dinner to celebrate 10 years of CIH's office in Northern Ireland. The Minister for Social Development, Margaret Ritchie, not only attended but used the opportunity to launch her new procurement strategy - and a number of assembly members were also there. I left with an impression of how well respected and influential CIH is now in Northern Ireland. I also met housing students at Ulster University and was impressed with their enthusiasm and commitment to housing.

The following week saw me visit Beijing - my first time in China. I was amazed by the scale of the city - it's twice the size of London. We met with the CPMI (Chartered Property Management Institute) to build on our on-going relationship. They took us to see some impressive private housing schemes with high levels of on-going property management - including secure common areas with signs that ask you to talk quietly. Whilst there we signed up six new CIH members - all involved in property management in China.

Next stop Hong Kong. I visited the offices of the Hong Kong Housing Society - the second largest public landlord after the HK Housing Authority. They are doing some very impressive work to support a) owners of poor quality older flats and b) older people in need of supported housing and care. We met the Permanent Secretary for Housing at the HK Housing Authority and had a conversation about a mutual interest in customer insight work. Another point of interest here is that the Authority is similar to the Northern Ireland Housing Executive in that it is both the largest social landlord in the country and the strategic housing authority. The high rise, high density estates are all immaculate - in part due to a regime whereby you get points for ASB and lose your home once your have reached a certain total. I also attended the 20th anniversary dinner of the HK Housing Institute. The Minister for housing in HK attended and I spent a long time talking to her over dinner. She was keen to explain the value placed on professionalism by the government.

On a visit to Macau - a special administrative area of China in the same way that Hong Kong is - I discovered that there are more casinos than there are in Las Vegas. It is interesting that the Macau government has used the gambling industry to regenerate the economy and the result has been a huge increase in property prices. We saw a social housing development managed through a contract with a private company that also manages private housing estates. CIH members in Macau are employed in the private sector for the most part, which is clearly different from the UK context.

In my next blog I'll share my impressions from the Tri-Country conference in Toronto, and the effects of the credit crunch on social housing in North America.