By Alistair McIntosh, chief executive, HQN

Many years ago, I was sick of losing my housing jobs due to Mrs. Thatcher and her henchmen at the Audit Commission, so I applied to join top city firm Coopers and Lybrand. You know them today as PWC. Much to my surprise I got the post. That’s when panic sent in as I was entering such a different world. So, off I went to the bookshop and got every business and economics dictionary I could lay my hands on and committed the terms to memory. That served me well.

When you first get into housing it can feel like you’ve climbed upon the Double Dutch bus. But fear not Joe’s Social Housing Dictionary will explain what all the words mean in plain terms!

I started at Camden in the early 1980s. When we heard the word ‘voids’ we just assumed it was something to do with the pioneering punk band Richard Hell and the Voidoids. We thought we were off to Dingwalls for the night. Can you imagine our crushing disappointment as we ordered Sitex security doors?

Joe lays out all the key housing terms over 230 pages. That’s a lot to get your head around. But he breaks it down well. I particularly enjoyed the wide range of acronyms. They can really trip the newbie up. Luckily, we have many more layers of management than we used to have to draw your attention to any mistakes you might make.

I gave Joe’s last book – which explained the realities of maintenance – to a new recruit dealing with complaints. It lifted the scales from her eyes. In many organisations management is churning and training is patchy. If you are new to housing and you’re not getting a lot of help, click onto Amazon and buy Joe’s dictionary. It’s especially strong on the repairs service. And for most people that’s the big deal.

Joe has rolled the dice and given us a double six. Read this and you are ready to start a career. Of course, you must do more research to get a handle on all our lingua franca. In particular, shared ownership requires a volume of its own to explain the pushmi-pullyu between tenancy and ownership. It baffled me in the early ‘80s and still does to this day.