After 14 years, the Tories are no longer in government. But what does the future for housing look like under a new Labour government? Join us at the annual conference as we attempt to answer that question, while also focusing on the day-to-day challenges we are still facing.

As the new chancellor announces plans to reintroduce mandatory local housing targets and create a taskforce to “accelerate stalled housing sites in our country” we will be looking at what the new government will mean for social housing at this year’s annual conference.  On Tuesday, 16^th July and Thursday, 18^th July, we will discuss all of these issues in the company of a top-class line-up of expert speakers:

• We’ll get the thoughts of housing campaigner Kwajo Tweneboa and social commentator Darren McGarvey about their hopes and fears under the new government as well as their ideas on how to improve housing policy and our public services
• Ben Cooper from the Fabian Society, which has worked with the Labour Party on their new housing plans
• Adam Lent, senior consultant in leadership and organisational development at The King’s Fund, will talk about the role of leadership in tackling the significant issues facing the social housing sector and the prospects for public services under the new government
• Housing Ombudsman Richard Blakeway will share his thoughts on why he believes a royal commission could be “transformative” in tackling the country’s housing crisis and provide an update on the progress made so far
• Kate Dodsworth, the Chief of Regulatory Engagement at the Regulator of Social Housing, will talk about the first three months of new regulatory regime and what they are seeing on the ground – both good and bad. She will also discuss the future of social housing regulation under the new government.

This year’s conference provides one of the first opportunities for housing professionals to discuss the prospects for housing under Labour. It is not to be missed.

Essential for:

• Housing association chief executives
• LA senior executives
• ALMO chief executives
• Executive directors
• Senior housing leaders
• Housing strategy leaders
• Policy managers and officers
• Board members
• Councillors
• Senior council staff.

Can’t make this date? Book day two (18 July, London) by clicking here.

Interested in attending both days? Book here.

Alistair McIntosh, Chief Executive, HQN

Alistair McIntosh is one of the social housing sector’s most respected and best known personalities.

As founder and Chief Executive of HQN, he is regarded as one of the foremost advisers on governance and regulation, specialising in VfM and stress testing. His hands-on approach sees Alistair leading on all HQN’s in-depth assessment mock exercises and support work, designing and running the popular Iron Grip sessions and chairing/speaking at conferences and events.

Career highlights include setting up and running the National Federation of ALMOs, leading the popular consultation on the regulatory standards for housing, and developing an approach to VfM that won praise from the housing minister.

A regular contributor to the housing press, Alistair’s columns are known for their humorous, pointed and painfully accurate assessment of the state of social housing.

Adam Lent, Director of the New Local Government Network

Adam Lent is a Senior Consultant in the Leadership and Organisational Development Team at The King’s Fund. He has worked for the last twenty years on public sector innovation and public service reform with a particular focus on community-led approaches, new models of leadership and organisational culture change. Prior to joining The King’s Fund he was Chief Executive of New Local for over seven years – a think-tank and peer-learning network seeking to deliver a community power vision for public services, society and the wider economy. He has worked previously as Head of Economics at the Trades Union Congress and Director of the Action and Research Centre for the Royal Society for the Arts. He has researched and written extensively throughout his career and he holds a PhD from Sheffield University.

Aileen Evans, Group Chief Executive, Grand Union Housing Group

Aileen Evans is Chief Executive Officer of Grand Union Housing Group and at the end of June 2021 completed her term as the president of the Chartered Institute of Housing, the professional body for those working in housing.

A qualified coach and NLP master practitioner she has a strong interest in understanding healthy organisational cultures and the impact on performance.

An emerging mental health campaigner, she was, as part of her presidential campaign, working with the metal health charity MIND to provide a guide for housing organisations on creating mentally health organisations and had set a fundraising target of £50K to support MIND this year.

Sam Pratt, Shared Health Foundation

Sam Pratt is the Policy and Communications Lead for Shared Health Foundation. Shared Health is a clinically led, evidence based not-for-profit based in Oldham, Greater Manchester and whose aim is to reduce the impact of poverty on health. Sam has a passion for social justice and tackling health inequalities in the most deprived neighbourhoods.

Brian Hamlin, Community Specialist, The Guinness Partnership

Brian Hamlin is a community specialist working in some of England’s most deprived/ diverse communities for over 20 years. Brian leads the Inclusive Communities and Alleviating Hardship strategic objectives for national housing  provider Guinness Partnership. Brian is an advocate of a strong third sector and sustainable partnership working.

Sonji Nurse, Tenant, Hexagon Housing Association

Sonji is an experienced strategic, change management and operational leader, whose prowess has consistently driven performance enhancement, delivering tangible results over more than two decades across the private, legal, non-profit and public sectors. Her strategic planning, change management acumen and unwavering commitment to community service have enabled her to navigate complex organisations and deliver tangible results and positive outcomes, leaving a lasting legacy of innovation and service excellence.

Beyond her professional achievements, Sonji’s dedication to her community is evident in her long-standing volunteer work. Sonji has also spent over a decade championing resident’s interests, contributing to the procurement of a new repairs contract that prioritises quality service delivery for all residents, ensuring that residents voices are represented. She’s a member of a number of groups, including the performance review and strategic core groups at her housing association. Their remit is to scrutinise the HA’s performance and make recommendations to the board so that service delivery is optimised. Sonji is a Housing Ombudsman Resident Panel Member.

Louise Williams, Head of Housing Services, Hexagon Housing Association

Louise Williams is the Head of Housing Services at Hexagon Housing Association. Responsible for overseeing resident engagement, Louise and her team have been working to develop a new resident engagement strategy.

Jill Murray, President, Chartered Institute of Housing

Jill is an accomplished chief executive and housing professional with extensive leadership skills, knowledge and experience. Having spent the majority of her 42 year housing career in social housing, her experience has included a path of continuous learning in organisations of varying structures, size and capacity, which has afforded her a diverse range of skills across housing association, local authority and the private sector.

Throughout her career, her enthusiasm for excellence in leadership has inspired her to develop further and to develop others. Jill’s work on leading and empowering staff and regenerating communities has attracted both regional and national recognition, including various personal and organisational awards. The story surrounding the success of her leadership approach in Byker, Newcastle, has been included as a chapter in a book titled ‘Hope Under Neoliberal Austerity’ published in April 2021.

Jill’s role as the chief executive of a housing association for over nine years, provided her with in-depth and specialist knowledge of strategic leadership, culture, planning, good governance, assurance, risk management, community regeneration, resident involvement and co-creation.

Jill is the President of the Chartered Institute of Housing and also a Non-Exec Director in a large NHS Mental Health, Foundation Trust, where she chairs the People, Culture and Diversity Committee and is also the NED Wellbeing Guardian.

About Birketts

Birketts is a full service, top 100 law firm in the UK. With a dedicated social housing team, they have worked with a vast range of clientele including national and regional registered providers, local authorities, private housebuilders, and funders on a wide range of issues affecting the sector. Birkett’s understand social housing is an ever-changing environment, subject to frequent changes driven by Government demands, new legislation and the economy. They have particular strengths in development (including stock transfer) and its related discipline sectors: construction, planning and projects. Allied to this, they can call on their well-established plot sales function to support RP development teams – this is particularly important as the range of home ownership products increases and for those RPs who employ private sales to cross-subsidise schemes. They have a wealth of experience in housing management issues, particularly in relation to nuisance and anti-social behaviour. In addition, they have skilled advisers covering your core business needs such as employment law and funding.

About Paypoint

Paypoint is a leading payments provider in the UK which works across the social housing sector to provide quality payment advice, tailored support, and training in rental income to housing associations and councils across the UK.

With over 20 years of experience in the field of innovating the payments sector, it has a digital omnichannel payments solution – MultiPay. With over 450 clients using MultiPay and over 514 million transactions processed each year, Paypoint is highly experienced in understanding the impact fintech has upon tenant communications.

Paypoint has a range of digital payment channels including Paybylink, the app service, online, text, direct debit, phone/IVR, cash, cashout and recurring card payments.

Its solution multi-pay is a one stop shop for all digital payment, offering a single view of all payment channels and a point of truth including real time cash data. MultiPay offers providers a full API catalogue to integrate into existing systems, easy integration, and a roadmap with ever-evolving new features.

10.30am Opening remarks from the Chair

• Alistair McIntosh, CEO, HQN

10.40am Keynote speech – Leadership now

• Adam Lent, Senior Consultant in leadership and organisational development, The King’s Fund

The former chief executive of local government think tank New Local, Adam Lent, will open the day with his thoughts on the challenges facing the public sector and how leaders need to adapt to the ‘permacrisis’ we’re now in.  Adam will discuss the role of leadership in tackling the significant issues facing the social housing sector and the prospects for public services under the new government.

11.10am Using data to know your tenants and meet their requirements

• Aileen Evans, Group Chief Executive, Grand Union Housing Group

Aileen will talk about Grand Union’s extensive and award-winning work around customer research, which was developed to ensure its services are fit for purpose, both now and in the future.  She will outline how their approach developed to embed equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI), and vulnerability as core service design principles.

11.40am Break

11.55am Improving the quality of temporary accommodation

• Sam Pratt, Shared Health Foundation, secretariat to the Households in Temporary Accommodation APPG and Brian Hamlin, Community Specialist, The Guinness Partnership

The session will cover the work and research of members of the APPG to present solutions to improve the health, lives and experiences of people living in temporary accommodation across England.

12.35pm Tenant engagement: How to make tenant’s views count throughout your organisation

• Sonji Nurse, Tenant, Hexagon Housing Association and Louise Williams, Head of Housing Services, Hexagon Housing Association

13.15pm Lunch 

2.00pm Preparing for the new conduct and competency standard

• Jill Murray, President, Chartered Institute of Housing

Jill will update everyone on the professionalisation agenda, what she believes we will gain as a sector, her Be EPIC campaign for the CIH and what landlords should be doing to prepare whilst we wait for the final standards.

2.30pm Housing‘s Next Generation competition grand final – task one

There will be a chance to vote for your favourite after task one with the final on Thursday.

3.10pm Housing with a new Government

• Chloe Fletcher, Director, HQN and Ben Cooper, Fabian Society

3.40pm Closing remarks

• Alistair McIntosh, CEO, HQN

3.45pm Close