duration

Location
Virtual

Housing management is under more pressure than ever. As providers rethink how services are delivered, how do you create a model that is simpler, more accountable and provides better outcomes for residents? Find out at our practical event.

  • Read more

    Consumer regulation, increasing compliance demands, more complex tenancy issues, rising customer expectations and financial pressures are forcing housing providers to rethink their operating models.

    Should you organise around neighbourhoods or specialist teams? Centralise services or strengthen your local presence? Or is success less about structure and more about getting the fundamentals of housing management right?

    This practical HQN event explores what really works. Hear from councils and housing associations that have redesigned or refreshed their housing management services as they share what prompted them to change, what they did, what succeeded, what didn’t and what they would do differently.

    We’ll explore:

    • Why providers are reviewing their housing management models
    • The strengths and trade-offs of neighbourhood, patch-based, centralised and specialist approaches
    • How to improve accountability, resident relationships and service outcomes
    • How data, digital tools and AI can support better triage, insight, proactive work and early intervention
    • How to equip staff with the right skills, tools and manageable workloads
    • How to measure whether your model is genuinely improving services and delivering what residents want.

    Whether you’re planning a major redesign or simply testing whether your current arrangements are fit for the future, you’ll leave with practical insights, real-world examples and the right questions to ask before changing structures, roles or systems.

    Who you’ll hear from 

    You’ll hear from Dawn Wightman, HQN Associate, who will set the scene by exploring what really makes a housing management model work and the questions providers should ask before redesigning services. Richard Shwe, Executive Director of Housing and Neighbourhoods at Hammersmith and Fulham Council, will share early learning from the council’s move towards a more joined-up, locally focused model. Tamara Valmas and Claire Morris from Eastlight Community Homes will then take delegates inside its place-based approach, looking at neighbourhood ownership, specialist teams, caseloads and how to make the model work in practice.

    Why attend? 

    Housing management structures directly shape resident experience, staff workload and service performance. This event gives you the chance to step back and test whether your current model is really working, drawing on honest examples from providers using different approaches. You’ll hear what has improved accountability, neighbourhood presence and resident relationships, where redesigns have created new challenges, and what to consider before changing patches, roles, teams or systems. 

    Who should attend?

    This event is designed for people responsible for shaping, leading or improving housing management services in councils, housing associations and ALMOs, including:

    • Directors and heads of housing, operations and neighbourhood services
    • Housing management, tenancy and neighbourhood managers
    • Estate services managers and senior practitioners
    • Customer service and customer access leads
    • Transformation and service improvement leads
    • Performance, quality and policy teams
    • Digital, data and IT colleagues supporting housing operations
    • ASB, tenancy sustainment, rent and supported housing teams
    • Senior practitioners involved in reviewing roles, patches, caseloads, workflows or service standards
    • Anyone considering whether their current housing management model remains fit for purpose.
  • Our speakers

    Dawn Wightman, Associate, HQN
    Dawn is an accomplished social housing professional with over 35 years’ experience across the sector including more than a decade operating at director level. Her career spans the full breadth of housing services, with extensive expertise in cross-tenure management, income collection, allocations, community investment, estate services and specialist housing provision.

    She brings a deep, practical understanding of how housing services operate at scale and how they can be reshaped to better serve customers and communities.

    Richard Shwe, Director of Housing, Hammersmith and Fulham Council
    Richard is a highly committed leader, with over 25 years’ experience in local government. He has been with Hammersmith and Fulham for four years, firstly in Environment and now as the Director of Housing.  Richard provided strong leadership for the housing service through the Housing Regulator and Housing Ombudsman investigations and has aided Hammersmith and Fulham’s journey of Service Improvement and Housing Transformation following on from recommendations from the Ombudsman.

    Richard is now focussing on continuously improving the Repairs and Complaints handling in line with the Ombudsman recommendations, ensuring that H&F can provide the best service possible to residents whilst ensuring that the service is compliant with the new Consumer Standards.

    Tamara Valmas, Head of Housing (Neighbourhoods), Eastlight Community Homes
    Tamara is currently Head of Housing (Neighbourhoods) at Eastlight Community Homes. Joining the housing association in late 2025, Tamara’s housing experience spans more than 15 years with experience in neighbourhood management, housing operations and tenancy support. Previously an Operations Manager for the Essex and Suffolk Housing Team at Home Group, Tamara has also held roles at Southern Housing Group and Gallions Housing (now Peabody). Alongside her practical experience, Tamara holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Housing Practice (Social Housing) from the University of Westminster, creating a strong blend of operational expertise and professional knowledge.

    Claire Morris, Head of Housing (Operations), Eastlight Community Homes
    Claire is currently Head of Housing (Operations) at Eastlight Community Homes, also joining in late 2025. Prior to joining Eastlight, Claire served as Head of Housing at mhs homes in Kent and as Service Manager for Housing, Health and Communities at East Herts District Council. Throughout her career, Claire has led a broad range of housing services, including neighbourhood management, income and tenancy sustainment, as well as specialist support functions, giving her a wealth of expertise across the housing sector.

    Linda Wallace, Chief Executive, PHA Homes
  • Programme

    9:30am Welcome and introductions 

    Dawn Wightman, Associate, HQN

    9:40am Structure or fundamentals? What makes a housing management model work 

    Dawn Wightman, Associate, HQN
    • The key questions to ask before changing patches, roles, teams or reporting lines
    • Where neighbourhood, specialist and centralised approaches can work – and where they can create new problems
    • How to keep accountability, staff capacity and the resident relationship at the heart of any redesign.

    10:10am From silos to a local offer: Bringing housing management closer to residents 

    Richard Shwe, Executive Director of Housing and Neighbourhoods, Hammersmith and Fulham Council
    • How Hammersmith and Fulham has moved from fragmented services towards a more joined-up, accountable housing model
    • What its new local offer means in practice – named housing officers, smaller patches, stronger links with surveyors and greater neighbourhood visibility
    • Early lessons on implementing change, maintaining specialist expertise and measuring whether the new model is working for residents.

    10:40am Break 

    11:00am My Eastlight Team: Making a place-based housing model work in practice 

    Tamara Valmas, Head of Housing (Neighbourhoods), and Claire Morris, Head of Housing (Operations), Eastlight Community Homes
    • How Eastlight’s 32 neighbourhood patches put clearer ownership and stronger resident relationships at the heart of the service
    • Getting the balance right between Neighbourhood Leads and specialist teams, without residents being bounced between services
    • Practical lessons on caseloads, skills, consistency and measuring whether the new model is delivering.

    11:30am Staying close to residents: Lessons from a community-based housing model 

    Linda Wallace, Chief Executive, PHA Homes
    • How local knowledge and close resident relationships shape everyday housing management
    • Balancing responsiveness with capacity, resilience and specialist expertise
    • What larger landlords can learn from a human-scale, community-based model.

    12:00pm Q&A and discussion 

    12:30pm Close

  • Cancellations and substitutions

    If you are unable to attend an event or public training course, please let us know in writing (email is fine) at least 48 hours before. Please email [email protected]

    Otherwise, a cancellation fee of £60 plus VAT will be chargeable.

    If you are using a package place to attend and do not inform us within the agreed time frame, then a place will be taken to cover your non-attendance.

    Cancellations must be made in writing and will be acknowledged by HQN Limited.

  • Price and booking

    Bookings are closed for this event.

    If you experience any issues when submitting your booking, please email [email protected] with the name and date of the session along with the delegate name(s), email address(es) and job title(s) and we'll process the booking for you.

Dates



This event comes with a professional development certificate

Making a booking:

You don’t need to be logged in to make a booking.

Step 1: Select the number of delegates you would like to book on this session
Step 2: Complete the delegate details
Step 3: Check the details, tick the consent box, and press the book now button
Step 4: Member discounts will automatically be applied on the next page
Step 5: To use a coupon code please enter this at the top of the checkout page by clicking on the link
Step 6: Complete the booking details
Step 7: Confirm your booking
Step 8: You will receive a confirmation email with an order number, if you don’t receive this within 24 hours please get in touch with us – [email protected]