CIH President's Blog

2009-06-18T16:06:00.003+01:00

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

Shaping our sector for the future

2009-03-16T15:48:00.007Z

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.

Working together

2009-02-09T09:30:00.009Z

January has been a busy month and one of my first duties was to speak at the CIH London AGM. I shared a platform with Richard Blakeway, the London Mayor's Housing Director, who is coming to my Presidential dinner this week. I also had the pleasure of presenting the first ever London Student Excellence Awards to Stephen Dodd and Taiwo Ojutalayo, who have successfully completed their studies and have become Corporate Members of CIH..

In January I also attended the CIH South East House of Commons reception, which gave housing leaders from the region an opportunity to speak to MPs and local councillors. Laura Moffatt MP for Crawley encouraged all housing professionals to 'keep on the tail of your Members of Parliament, keep talking to them ...because we are all open to hearing how to deal with what are extremely difficult and challenging housing issues'. David Edwards, the Regional Director of the Homes and Communities Agency welcomed the opportunity to exchange views and network with members of parliament, councillors and housing leaders.

I was also pleased to be able to announce the new South East Housing Coalition between CIH, Shelter and the National Housing Federation to provide a united voice for housing in regional economic planning. I hope that by working together we can provide support to the Regional Minister, MPs and regional bodies to maintain the South East as a successful and prosperous region.

At the end of the month I attended the Midlands Excellence Awards, which was organised by Investors in Excellence. They are a not-for-profit organisation providing practical solutions to enable their customers to become more effective, efficient and competitive. Julian Beaney, the Chair of CIH West Midlands works for them. It was pleasing to see several housing organisations amongst the finalists, including Trent and Dove who were highly commended.

As CIH President I am very fortunate to be able to attend functions, award ceremonies and other events which highlight the importance of partnership working. The relationships that we build up within the sector and beyond enable CIH maximise our reach and influence and I am particularly proud of that. In challenging times, working together to ensure better outcomes for people in the communities we serve seems the obvious and the right thing to do.

Thinking positively about 2009

2009-01-09T10:10:00.006Z

I'm usually filled with optimism when a new year starts, but the seemingly constant news of job losses and companies in trouble, as well as people facing redundancy, debt and even homelessness, makes me wonder how long it will take us to pull out of this economic downturn, and what will happen to people at risk in the meantime.

My son has recently been laid off from his job, so I know how tough the employment market is, even if you have good qualifications and recent work experience, never mind if you haven't worked for some time. I'm particularly pleased that CIH is doing some work to support housing organisations in helping their residents back into work. Our new worklessness toolkit is a resource that gives useful guidance on how to help residents develop their skills and employability and how to help them overcome barriers to work, for example by providing subsidised child care places, like Places for People do through their Places for Children nurseries.

I am also encouraged to see how many fantastic initiatives there are to give residents better access to affordable credit and to encourage them to save, making them more financially independent and able to plan for the future. CIH will soon have a total of four staff working with housing organisations on developing partnerships with people like credit unions and money advice centres. Part of their role will also be to work with housing organisations to assist them in developing strategies to help their residents face the future with more confidence.

Despite the economic slowdown, the low numbers of housing completions and the drying up of credit, I feel that we have an historic opportunity created by the downturn to acquire good quality land at low prices for affordable housing provision. But most of all, I am encouraged by the continuing enthusiasm and energy of the people working in our sector and by their commitment to help improve people's lives and, in turn, their life chances.

Recognising fantastic contributions

2008-12-24T10:41:00.007Z

At the end of November I was a guest at the prestigious Welsh Housing Awards in Cardiff where CIH celebrated achievements across the breadth of the housing sector in Wales. The awards were presented by Jocelyn Davies AM, Deputy Minister for Housing, who praised all the shortlisted entries for the positive contribution they are making as organisations and individuals.

It was great to hear about successful work in areas as diverse as environmental sustainability, developing and regenerating communities and delivering customer driven services. You can see the list of the winners here.

My particular role in the event was to present the award for Welsh Housing Hero, as part of my campaign throughout my Presidential year to recognise the extraordinary people who work in our sector and make such a difference.

The award went to Adrian (Ady) Gratton from Llamau, the charity working in South Wales to improve the lives of socially excluded, homeless people. Ady (shown on the right above) works with young people in supported housing, where his enthusiasm and passion inspires all of his colleagues. He recently recruited a team of young people that he was working with to take part in a soccer tournament. He arranged training sessions outside of his working hours and made sure that everyone got kit. He raised funds and generally enthused the team, who went on to win the tournament. This helped fill everyone with greater confidence, pride and a sense of achievement.

Ady is also working with another young man with Aspergers. He is devoting his own time to supporting and encouraging him, and hopes that this young man will compete in the 2012 Para-Olympics in London.

Frances Beecher, Chief Executive of Llamau, tells me that Ady has a great rapport with all of the service users and that she couldn't think of a better person to get this award.

An inspiring story. I look forward to recognising more of housing's heroic people in 2009. Meanwhile, I'd like to take this opportunity to wish all of you season's greetings and a happy New Year.

On the road...part two

2008-12-19T13:19:00.006Z

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.

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

2008-12-11T13:27:00.006Z

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.

Great Work in the North East

2008-12-03T14:23:00.008Z

In November, I attended the CIH North East Conference in Newcastle, which was a superb event. On the Wednesday night, the Regional Committee organised a "future professionals" dinner, which was very well attended and I had the privilege of presenting the North East student awards. The enthusiasm of everyone present was infectious and for me, showed what fantastic people we have working in our sector.

The conference was excellent and the high point for me was listening to Kyran Bracken, the Rugby World Cup winner, talk about leadership. The photo shows me talking to Kyran after his presentation, when I reminded him of the time that he had helped me coach our Under 7's. I was able to show him the picture below, which showed him when he still had some hair and I was also able to say that I was playing in the same team as three of the lads the following day, but they are now all 19 and look a bit different.

During the conference, there was a very successful dinner and the raffle that was held raised over �1,100 for my charity, the Crisis "Changing Lives" appeal. Gavin Brown, the Chair of the North East Regional Committee is clearly determined to win the award that I will be presenting in Harrogate for the Regional Committee that raises the most money for my charity. He was telling me all about the Golf Day and the Charity Ball that they will be organising in the New Year and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Gavin and all of his colleagues in the North East for all of their hard work.

While I was up in the North East, I took the opportunity to visit the Crisis office in Newcastle and I was really impressed by everything that they are doing to help homeless people and people in vulnerable housing circumstances get back into work through training and employment opportunities - so all of the money that is raised will be put to a very good use, particularly in the current economic climate.

My First Heroic Person

2008-09-26T08:50:00.005+01:00

Leaders in any sector spend a great deal of time talking about policy and strategy. We talk about our business plans and our budgets, as well as our visions and mission statements. Of course, all of these things are really important. But in my experience, it is the extraordinary people that work in our sector, who do fantastic work for our customers, who make the real difference. Over the course of my Presidential year, I want to recognise as many of these people as possible.

My first heroic person is Jenny Hackworth from Weymouth and Portland Housing. Jenny cleans in a sheltered scheme first thing in the morning and then cooks for over 50 people, with everything cooked freshly and to a very high quality each day. She gets up at 5.15 every morning to get two busses to work and she has done this for 10 years.

Now, while all of this is impressive, it is not this that was highlighted by her colleagues. Recently the people who provided meals at another sheltered scheme in her area pulled out at short notice and rather than see residents going without a meal she doubled her capacity of lunches, despite working from a tiny kitchen. She did this with a smile, despite the fact that she faces redundancy next year, as the Supporting People contract for her work is not being renewed. Jenny is an extraordinary person and it was my huge pleasure to present Jenny with a certificate and flowers to recognise her fantastic work at my Presidential Dinner on 25 September 2008.

Do you have any suggestions for ?heroic people? like Jenny, who are really making the difference to tenants and residents everyday? Send your ideas to president@cih.org

Heroic People

2008-09-23T13:01:00.003+01:00

Some of you may be aware that during my Presidential Year I want to recognise some of the housing profession's heroic people. And I would like your support to help me identify them.

There are no complicated application forms to complete or exacting qualification criteria.- that's for you to decide. Nor do the people need to be CIH members or even closely related to the Chartered Institute of Housing. But they are likely to be people in the 'front line', who are making an outstanding contribution to everyday service delivery to any of the five million households in the sector.

Over the course of the next nine months, as I travel across the UK and across the world, I'll be taking time out to meet and recognise the achievements of as many people as possible - whether on this blog, at events, branch meetings or with the help of the media.

So let's celebrate those people who really make the difference to tenants and residents everyday. I look forward to hearing from you. Send your ideas to president@cih.org

Your chance to change lives

2008-09-17T12:21:00.007+01:00

This week we start in earnest to promote my Presidential Appeal ? Crisis Changing Lives.

Crisis Changing Lives is a national award scheme which helps homeless people to achieve their vocational goals and independence. The scheme provides financial and mentoring support and the grants can be used to pay for training courses, tools and equipment or to help people set up their own businesses. Since it began in 2002, the programme has helped more than 1,000 formerly homeless or vulnerably housed people. Awards of up to �2,500 are made to people across the UK in two categories: education or employment. Each applicant must complete an application form and submit a business plan which outlines their vocational goals, key milestones and a budget. A panel then assesses each application.

In 2007, nearly �190,000 of grants were made to 209 homeless or vulnerably housed people.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Crisis' Chief Executive Leslie Morphy (pictured) and our friends at Inside Housing magazine, who agreed to circulate the appeal's new promotional leaflet in this week?s edition of Inside Housing (19 September 2008). The leaflet contains information about Crisis and the charity, and how to donate. More details and quotes can also be found in a news release.

The appeal has also received the kind support of Rt. Hon. Caroline Flint MP, Minister for Housing and Planning. Endorsing my appeal she said: "Solving homelessness isn?t just about finding people a place to live. It?s about supporting them to gain the confidence and skills to start rebuilding their lives. Rewarding education and employment is crucial not just to getting people back on their feet, but to transforming their prospects. This project has already been incredibly successful in offering new opportunities to hundreds of people, and I am sure this fundraising will help reach out to many more".

You can keep track of the progress of the Appeal and make donations at our Just Giving web site.

The Glastonbury Generation and Affordable Housing

2008-07-26T00:00:00.000+01:00

I got a lot of street cred when I told my teenage son and daughter that I was opening this year?s Glastonbury event, but they were a bit disappointed when I explained that the event was taking place a few weeks after the main festival and was to debate the future of affordable housing.

The conference, organised jointly by the CIH, Mendip Housing and the Aster Group, was a terrific opportunity to hear from Michael Eavis, who founded the Glastonbury Festival and is committed to raising the profile of affordable housing and to listen to Matthew Taylor MP who had only launched his review of rural communities the day before. There was also a fascinating presentation by Professor Steve Wilcox on the state of the housing market across the UK.

One of the highlights was the results of the survey we had carried out with our partners and volunteers at the Glastonbury Festival at the end of June. 1,100 young people were questioned about their housing aspirations and the responses provided uncomfortable reading. Delegates, and the local TV stations who turned up to listen to the speakers, were fascinated to learn that so many young people in the south-west (almost 28%) were still living with their parents and the same number said that the housing they needed was not available. What was pleasing to see was that four fifths of those questioned (82%) said that they would be pleased or OK about affordable housing being built close to where they live.

Matthew Taylor?s review ?Living Working Countryside? has been warmly welcomed by CIH as a way forward for rural areas under threat of generational imbalance and economic decline. I know we are particularly supportive of the review?s more sensitive interpretation of sustainability (see the CIH press release). In other words, we need to balance social, economic and environmental sustainability to ensure that villages are maintained as vibrant places that allow people to live and work locally. If villages are inhabited predominantly by retired, wealthy individuals and younger, working families are priced out, the long-term sustainability of entire communities risks being lost.

I?m not sure that there can be any more important debates that the one that took place at the Glastonbury event, and anything more pertinent and crucial to young people.

I welcome your views on the challenges for rural communities in particular, and the experiences young people in your area are having in trying to find a home they can afford.

Changing Places, Changing Lives

2008-07-11T10:50:00.003+01:00

I was privileged to chair an event last month which celebrated the end of the first ?Leading Places of Change" training programme for hostel managers.

The homelessness sector is undergoing a major cultural shift away from crisis management towards a focus on creation of opportunity and positive outcomes for those receiving the services. The programme that Communities and Local Government asked us to create is unique. It develops leadership skills to bring about the critical change needed to underpin the government's �90m capital investment in the sector.

I am so excited about where it is taking the sector and the kind of skills it is helping to nurture. CIH looks forward to continuing to work with our partners, Broadway and Homeless Link to deliver the programme again later in the year.

Places of Change presents a vision for the homeless sector with great buildings, motivated staff and service users encouraged and challenged to move towards a more independent lifestyle. This style of service is focused on the needs and potential of the individual and focuses on their priorities and potential.

Interestingly, this links with my chosen charity for my Presidential year, which is the Crisis "Changing Lives" appeal, which gives grants to homeless people, and people in vulnerable housing circumstances, to get back into employment, or often in to employment for the first time.

Many services for homeless people have historically been starved of resources and focused on dealing with crisis. So, moving to this new style of delivery requires innovative design, skilful and tenacious management and an eye on the future. We hope that this programme will ensure that the sector has more leaders who are enthusiastic to rise to this challenge.

To support the training delivery CIH has developed a brand new qualification called the ?Leading Places of Change" award. This postgraduate qualification reinforced the learning from the training sessions and encouraged participants to reflect on how theory could help them to understand and improve their work.

More than 80 people decided to take part in the qualification element of the programme with 66 passing so far, and 18 of these achieving an exceptional pass. We asked participants at the end of the programme how many of them had already used the learning in your workplace and 94% of them told us that they had already made changes to the way they and their projects work.

All of the partners are committed to ensuring that the programme continues to make a positive impact and we are looking forwarding to talking to Terrie Alafat (pictured above on the left with BBC's Chris Lowe) at CLG in the future about how we can ensure that we reach the right people. Listen to Terrie's speech at the Awards ceremony

Ultimately, CIH's job is to help professionals be the best that they can be in order to help vulnerable people get back on track with their lives. This training programme helps hostel leaders give homeless people a future. Thanks to our partners Homeless Link and Broadway, all those involved in delivering the training and qualifications elements of the programme and to Communities and Local Government for their financial and practical support. Most of all, though, it's thanks to hard-working professionals who follow the training and make a real difference to their cusotmers' lives.

Thoughts from Harrogate 08

2008-07-03T11:22:00.001+01:00

The credit crunch was the biggest talking point of last month's CIH Annual Conference and Exhibition. Whether I spoke to delegates, exhibitors or speakers, everyone was talking about the impact the credit crunch was having on the housing sector.

The most memorable session I attended was with the economists Ian Shepherdson and David Smith, it was fascinating. The one thing I took away from it was that there was no quick fix for the current problems in the housing market and that things were not likely to improve for the next two years. This analysis provides us with some significant challenges, but some opportunities too.

Most of the developers I was speaking to said that they were unlikely to be developing large construction sites with the effect that many Section 106 developments will not be going forward.

Some of the questions that the conference raised for me were: will the government's house building targets be met; will people be able to take up all those new shared ownership products if they are finding it hard to get a mortgage; and will we be in a position where we are developing properties and products that we can't sell.

It is for these reasons amongst others that CIH believes now is the right time to introduce a short-term mortgage rescue scheme in England. Northern Ireland and Wales are already moving down this route. We also believe that a Green Homes target, similar to the Decent Homes target, will support an ailing construction sector, as well as tackling the huge levels of carbon emissions (27%) from our existing housing stock. Reports from the LGA conference this week in Bournemouth suggest that 100,000 people may leave the construction sector because of the downturn in housebuilding.

On the other side of the coin, while house prices and land values continue to reduce there will be opportunities for housing associations to acquire land and sites that they otherwise could not have done.

There is still a great deal of political consensus around housing within all the major political parties, and this is a positive thing. There is also a much broader understanding amongst the wider community that housing is more than just about homes but also about decent schools, employment and leisure opportunities.

Finally, I was delighted that CIH was able to welcome over 40 international visitors from New Zealand, Australia, Belgium, Canada, the USA, South Africa and Nigeria. There was a great deal of exchange and a huge amount of learning going on between people who had rather different backgrounds and experiences but shared very similar goals. It is one of CIH's objectives to unite a global housing community, and it was exciting to see this happening in practice.

I would be interested to hear your impressions of the conference and some of the other issues raised in this blog.

Welcome to my blog!

2008-06-23T10:32:00.000+01:00

First of all, I would like to use this as an opportunity to say thank you for electing me as President for the coming year. It is a great privilege, which presents some great opportunities, but I?m sure you?ll understand that it is also a daunting prospect and I hope that I can repay the faith that the membership have put in me.

I would also like to use this opportunity to thank last year?s President Paul Diggory, for everything he did for the Institute over the last year. Paul was a fantastic President and will be a tough act to follow. He was of course, the first President to have a blog. The feed back suggests that people found this to be a great way to hear about the President?s work, so this is something that I plan to continue. I would however be pleased to hear what you think and if you have any views on the blog, or on any other issues, feel free to drop me an email at president@cih.org

My theme for the year is "Housing's Heroic People". We quite rightly spend a lot of time talking about things like policy, procedures, education and best practice, but in my experience, the greatest impact is made by fantastic people in the housing world doing extraordinary things to improve people?s lives. I plan to identify, recognise and reward as many of these people as I can, wherever I go in my Presidential year.

My Presidential charity is the Crisis Changing Lives Project, which provides funding to help homeless people into employment. I aim to raise �40,000 in a variety of ways and will provide more details when I launch the appeal next month.

As I am sure you can appreciate, I am really looking forward to the coming year and particularly the opportunity to see at first hand the fantastic work that our members are doing, both here in the UK and across the world.

Steve Benson
CIH President