Shaping our sector for the future

One of the highlights of the Presidential year is the annual dinner at the Natural History Museum in London, which this year took place on 11th February. Not only is it a chance to bring together 600 people who care deeply about housing and to nurture relationships between different parts of the sector, but it is an important opportunity to raise funds for the Presidential Appeal.

Guests at this year's dinner were very generous and our collection for Crisis 'Changing Lives' on the night raised the remarkable sum of £2,547.20. I would like to thank all those who made a donation to this worthwhile work.

I was delighted that CIH was able to recognise the work of a number of individuals at the Presidential Dinner. Firstly, we celebrated the outstanding performance of two housing students. Wondu Mekonnen was named CIH Student of the Year, for achieving outstanding success despite having to face real challenges in his life at the time of studying. And Dan Roberts was named CIH Distance Learning Student of the Year for outstanding performance in studying for the Postgraduate Diploma in Housing. The Housing Minister Margaret Beckett presented both students with a medal and a cheque for £200.

Secondly, it was with great pleasure that I was able to present Honorary CIH Membership to three very distinguished members of the housing community. Baroness Diana Maddock, the Rt Hon Nick Raynsford MP and Sir Bob Kerslake have all made significant and valued contributions to the housing sector and each has also been a great friend and supporter of CIH.

This year we were joined not only by Margaret Beckett but also by Margaret Ritchie, the Minister for Social Development in Northern Ireland. Mrs Beckett was our guest speaker and she underlined her determination to support the house building industry as much as she could through difficult times. The minister said that it was 'essential that local authorities and RSLs continue to do all they can' to keep delivery of affordable housing on track, and told the audience that she was 'open to suggestions about what more could be done' to remove obstacles in their way.


The minister gave a clear message to the sector to innovate, and these innovative solutions and new approaches are clearly important, but in many ways it's the longer-term vision for our sector that we at CIH are more concerned about.

In trying to survive today's crisis, we mustn't simply aim for a return to the way things were. However unwelcome - the credit crunch and global recession presents us with an opportunity to fundamentally re-shape our sector for the better. Our ability to be successful in reshaping our sector's future will in large part depend on our ability to promote the right kind of personal and professional development - and you have my pledge that this will be CIH's immediate priority going forward.