Our pick of the best Housing Today interviews from the past 12 months
Throughout 2024, Housing Today brought you exclusive interviews with the biggest names in the sector.
See more of Housing Today’s best articles from 2024
Below is our pick of our best interviews from the past 12 months.
9. ’We have a reputation for getting things done’ - Talking growth with new Jigsaw boss Brian Moran
Published in March
Brian Moran first walked through the doors of the offices of Greater Manchester housing association County Palatine as a policy and research manager in 2000.
Did he think he’d rise to the role of chief executive in the same organisation, now massively expanded through mergers and known as Jigsaw, 23 years later? In a word, no.
Moran had never had himself down as being a particularly ambitious type.
However, he has cunningly been following a strategy he picked up in the 1990s while at Blackpool housing association Wyre (now part of Regenda). His role at the time involved reviewing directors’ CVs and he noticed that “they had all changed their jobs quite a lot in the early part of their careers, every two years or so”.
8. ’Start now and try to move as fast as you can’ - CIH boss Gavin Smart gives his advice for the next government on housing
Published in June
Gavin Smart reckons housing is having a good election. The Chartered Institute of Housing boss, speaking to Housing Today just over a fortnight before polling day, says housing appears to be high up the list of parties’ and voters’ election priorities.
“Every manifesto says something about housing - not every sector is able to say that,” says Smart, with a smile.
Furthermore, Smart, who emphasises the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) is not party political, sees a high degree of consensus among the main parties around some of the big challenges facing the sector.
“If you read across the majority of the manifestos I think you will see a general agreement that we have got issues with housing supply, that we are not doing enough and a crucial part of increasing that supply is affordable housing, including housing let at social rents,” he says.
7. ‘Customer obsessed’: Yorkshire Housing boss Nick Atkin on using data and tech to improve housing and tenancy management
Published in May
“A reet exciting future” screams the front page of Yorkshire Housing’s latest business strategy. A playful nod to local accents.
It’s an unconventional title for a corporate document perhaps but the chief executive of the 20,000-home association is hardly one to do things by the usual playbook.
For the uninitiated, Doncaster-born Nick Atkin has long been making headlines in the social housing sector for his innovative approach to the use of digital and other initiatives to improve workplace efficiency and customer service.
From going paperless to attempting to ban internal email, to improving social media engagement, implementing agile working practices and introducing self-service channels for residents, over the years, Atkin has taken a lead in shaking up communications with residents, changing working practices and looking at ways to improve services in the social housing sector.
6. ‘Enabling people to be their best in a home they love’: Talking growth and customer focus with Bronwen Rapley
Published in March
When it comes to housing associations developing homes of their own, times are hard.
Cash levels in the sector have fallen to the lowest level in a decade and associations, faced with extra costs connected with regulation, decarbonisation and (in some cases) building safety, are reducing their development forecasts.
However, not everyone is cutting back on new-build.
Greater Manchester-based Onward Homes built 308 homes last year, its highest annual total to date. The plan now is to ramp up development to 700 homes per year, and deliver 5,000 new homes by 2030.
Chief executive Bronwen Rapley believes the 35,000-home association, formed through several mergers in recent years, has a strong enough balance sheet to take on extra costs and the risk of development. Her strategy has been to build up the organisation’s development capacity in a bid to ensure the association can build while remaining strong financially and compliant.
5. Local focus, efficient growth: Vivid boss Mark Perry explains how the Hampshire landlord became one of the RP sector’s biggest builders
Published in September
“This is why I don’t do many interviews,” laughs Mark Perry on more than one occasion when Housing Today asks for further clarity after things he has said.
The chief executive of Vivid should probably get ready for rather more media interest in him and his organisation if it continues along its recent trajectory. At a time when many housing associations are scaling back development, amid competing priorities and constrained balance sheet capacity, Vivid seems to be bucking the trend.
The Hampshire-based association increased its annual completions by 10% to 1,524 in 2023/24, putting it in the top five housing associations for development nationwide, while also increasing its social rent completions from 267 to 371.
4. ‘I never feel like I’ve done enough’… High-flying Elly Hoult talks about her career so far and her plans as the new CIH president
Published in November
“The problem with me is that I can never stop, because I never feel like I’ve done enough – it’s a strange mindset,” confides Elly Hoult. She is speaking just days after becoming president of the Chartered Institute of Housing.
For somebody who already is a major figure in the social housing sector, this may be a surprising comment. Hoult is just 44 years old but has held multiple senior positions in the sector.
She has completed two degrees in her spare time and last year rose to the role of deputy chief executive and chief operating officer at housing association giant Peabody. And all of this is in addition to her CIH duties too, of course.
3. ‘Take social housing rent-setting away from ministers’ - Clarion boss Clare Miller outlines her asks for the next government
Published in June
Should we prevent ministers from meddling with previously agreed rules governing the setting of social housing rents?
The chief executive of the largest housing association in the UK thinks so.
Clare Miller, boss of £1bn-turnover Clarion, believes stripping politicians of the ability to set or change social housing rent increase limits could give a massive boost to the sector. The sector received £16.9bn in income from social housing lettings in 2022/23 after all.
Miller, speaking exclusively to Housing Today from the organisation’s offices near London Bridge, says the social housing sector needs certainty around longer-term rental income in order to have the confidence to invest.
2. ‘We will never lose sight of what happened’ - Rochdale Boroughwide Housing CEO Amanda Newton on addressing failures after a tragic death
Published in June
Leading an organisation following a crisis that made national headlines is not a responsibility that many would voluntarily sign up for. But Amanda Newton, chief executive of Rochdale Boroughwide Housing, believed that somebody had to step up and, as a housing professional, she felt “a huge responsibility to make sure people can be safe”.
She therefore left her role as executive director of customer insight at Liverpool-based Livv Group last September to take on what is arguably the most difficult chief executive role in social housing.
Newton describes Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH), a mutual society co-owned by residents and staff, as being anchored in the community, ”which means that, when things go wrong, the whole community feels it”.
1. ‘I’m extremely demanding’: Greg Fitzgerald on delivering the Vistry growth plan
Published in March
In an exclusive interview, the Vistry chief executive talked with Joey Gardiner about bonuses, subcontractor price cuts, offsite construction - and whether the housebuilder can really follow through on its industry leading expansion strategy.
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