As I approach the Harrogate conference, which marks the end of my Presidential year, I have been both reflecting back on what has been a busy year and looking forward to what is clearly going to be a demanding time for our sector. At the beginning of my Presidential year, I set myself a number of objectives and it looks as if I will have achieved all of these by the point that I hand over to Howard Farrand next week. These were to:

• ensure that the CIH continues as a strong and influential organisation


• ensure that the CIH effectively influences policy and decision makers on the issues that are important to us


• leave a legacy with my "Housing Heroes" theme


• raise £40,000 for the Crisis "changing lives" project


• visit all of our English Regional Committees, our National Business Units in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales as well as our Asian Pacific Branch

Looking back, I feel that it has been really important to "kick off" both our Membership Review and Governance Review. We have not changed the way that we work for many years and it is important to update the way that we work if we are to continue to be a successful, modern and influential organisation. I believe that we have made a great start in developing healthy relationships with both the Homes and Communities Agency and the Tenant Services Authority.

Last week, Sarah Webb, Richard Capie and I met with Sir Bob Kerslake and a meeting also took place with Peter Marsh. Over the year, we developed good relationships with both Caroline Flint and Margaret Beckett, but after last weeks latest cabinet reshuffle, we now need to develop an equally good relationship with John Healey, our new Housing Minister.

Last autumn, we were leading with some exciting thought leadership in relation to the future of our sector, but as the credit crunch hit us, along with the associated collapses in both the banking sector and the housing market, our focus had to move to more immediate issues. We carried out a lot of work behind the scenes on various mortgage rescue packages and it is a shame that the Government didn't take up our proposals, as they would have had more impact than what they eventually went with. We have also quietly worked with organisations such as the Homes and Communities Agency and were pleased at how quickly they moved to allocate additional grant to allow unsold shared ownership properties to be converted to rented accommodation and to increase grant rates to help get some movement in what was a stagnant housing market.

I have been delighted by the way that people have enthusiastically embraced my "Housing Heroes" theme. I have had the opportunity to recognise and reward some fantastic people across the UK including John Lynch who is pictured receiving the North East award at their Charity Ball last month. I'm also looking forward to presenting Ocean Media Group's "Housing Hero's" awards later this week and am really pleased that they have launched these annual awards, as this means that there will be a lasting legacy from my Presidential year.

   

I have exceeded my target of raising £40,000 for the Crisis "changing lives" appeal, despite the difficult economic situation. I have had some fantastic support from both friends and colleagues, including Jeremy Adams and his team at Adams Integra who recently raised £5,000 at a golf day. Both Gavin Brown and Graham Scanlon and all of their colleagues from the North East Region have done a tremendous job including organising a Charity Ball, a Golf Day and a Quiz Night. Claire Sarel, a friend of mine also raised £3,000 at a Charity Ball in Bournemouth and the picture shows me enjoying myself with some of my colleagues from Testway at this event. There is also a picture of my team, which included three former colleagues at the Adams Integra golf day. None of the team of Kevin Dey, Nick Fry, John Morris and myself are golfers, but we had an enjoyable day and it was great to catch up and relive the stories of when we all worked together in Bournemouth in the mid 1980's.

I have also achieved my final objective of visiting all of our "Branches" at least once during my year. This has involved a lot of travelling, but I have some fantastic memories of time spent in Northern Ireland at the Conference of the Isles, in Scotland at their conference in Aberdeen and at the Welsh Housing awards in Cardiff. Over the year I have also attended events in Bolton, Brighton, Cambridge, Durham, Nottingham, London, Telford, Torquay and at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

My Presidential year has been incredibly busy and I have now handed over the reigns to Howard Farrand at Harrogate. Howard will be taking over at a busy time. Internally we need to complete both our Membership Review and our Governance review, while externally we need to carry on working through difficult market conditions, new regulatory arrangements as well as developing a good relationship with John Healey, our new Housing Minister.

It has been a real privilege to serve as the CIH President for the last year. I would like to take this opportunity to thank my employer Testway Housing, which is part of the Aster Group for allowing me to carry out this role, as well as all of the employees and members of the CIH who have provided fantastic support over the year. I have really enjoyed the role and hope that people feel that my year has been a success.

Steve