This year’s HQN conference takes place just two weeks after the general election and will provide a fantastic opportunity to hear about the housing priorities of the new government, while also focusing on the day-to-day challenges we’re currently facing.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has confirmed there will be a general election on 4 July, despite opinion polls showing the very real prospect of the Conservative Party losing power for the first time since 2010.

With housing moving up the political agenda and becoming a key issue for voters, this session will provide one of the first opportunities after the election for housing professionals to hear about the priorities of the new government and what the prospects are for social housing, improving the quality of rented homes, the future of the leasehold sector and plans to boost homeownership.

Over two days – one virtual (16 July) and the other face-to-face in London (18 July) – we have a range of outstanding speakers from inside and outside the housing sector who will examine the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

In typical HQN style, there will also be a practical focus on the key challenges facing housing professionals, including getting to grips with the quality of our housing stock, the new era of consumer regulation and inspection, rising complaints, the professionalisation agenda, and the need to better understand and meaningfully engage with residents.

As ever, HQN chief executive Alistair McIntosh will be on hand to host proceedings, which also include the final of this year’s Housing’s Next Generation competition.

Here is a rundown of the key sessions and speakers for both days of this year’s conference.

Day 1 – Tuesday, 16 July (virtual)

Confirmed speakers and session overviews

Leadership now: Adam Lent, senior consultant in leadership and organisational development, The King’s Fund

“It’s tough being a leader in the public sector these days. Often the role feels like little more than a fraught navigation between the rock of shrinking resources and the hard place of rising demand. What makes it even tougher is the dawning realisation that this is not a temporary blip but a new normal: the prospect of a return to an era of buoyant economic growth and adequate funding for public services feels like a fading pipe dream.” Adam Lent, February 2024

As the former chief executive of local government think tank New Local, Adam Lent is no stranger to the multitude of challenges facing the public sector. Recently, he has spent time thinking about the “four major changes in a radical leader’s focus” that are required to navigate the ‘permacrisis’. To kick off this year’s HQN annual conference, we’ve asked Adam to turn his thoughts to the role of leadership in tackling the significant issues facing the social housing sector and the prospects for public services under the new government.

Adam Lent is former chief executive of New Local, an independent local government thinktank. He was formerly programme director at the RSA and head of economics at the TUC.

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Using data to know your tenants and meet their requirements: Aileen Evans, 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.

To do this, they wanted to truly understand their tenants and their different needs and as the approach developed it has enabled Grand Union to embed equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI), and vulnerability as core service design principles. Their work has been picked up by other social housing providers and organisations from other sectors.

Aileen Evans has had a career spanning over 30 years in housing and in her role as chief executive oversees everything at Grand Union Housing Group. Aileen was voted president of the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) in November 2019 and completed her tenure in June 2021. As part of her presidency, she started a campaign to shine a light on mental health in housing.

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Improving the quality of life in temporary accommodation: Sam Pratt, Policy and Communications Lead, Shared Health Foundation

Earlier this year, data compiled by the National Child Mortality Database revealed that homelessness and temporary accommodation had contributed to the unexpected deaths of 55 children, the majority of whom were babies under the age of one.

The Shared Health Foundation, which played a lead role in the research, is a charity at the forefront of the temporary accommodation crisis. Based in Greater Manchester, it provides focused care and support to children and families in emergency and temporary accommodation and works with accommodation providers and local authorities to improve living standards.

Shared Health is also co-lead of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Households in Temporary Accommodation to ensure families experiencing homelessness is tackled at a national level.

For this session, Sam will highlight the extent of the national temporary accommodation crisis, talk about the work of the charity at a local level (there are over 3,000 children living in emergency or temporary accommodation in Greater Manchester), including its pioneering service ‘The Crib’ that provides practical support and care packages to homeless families.

Sam Pratt is Policy and Communications Lead for the Shared Health Foundation and is responsible for highlighting the charity’s work at a local and national level. Previously, he spent 10 years running a film production company.

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Implementing the new conduct and competency standard: Jill Murray, President, Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH)

As current president of the CIH, Jill is on a mission to improve professional standards in social housing. She has played a lead role in shaping the sector’s approach to implementing the new conduct and competency standard.

The new standard will require senior managers and executives to have, or be working towards, a relevant qualification. It aims to ensure that staff have up-to-date skills, knowledge and experience, and that they exhibit the right behaviours to deliver a high-quality, professional service and treat residents with respect. It’s due to be implemented by the Regulator of Social Housing later this year.

In this session, Jill will talk about the new conduct and competency standard, her year as CIH president and the progress of her ‘Be EPIC’ campaign. She will also reflect on how we can improve professionalism in the sector and how we can make it a career of choose for young people.

Jill Murray was previously chief executive of Byker Community Trust and is the current president of the Chartered Institute of Housing. She is also a non-executive director of a large mental health NHS foundation trust in the North of England.

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Housing priorities for the new government: Ben Cooper, Research Manager, the Fabian Society

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has confirmed there will be a general election on 4 July despite opinion polls showing the very real prospect of the Conservative Party losing power for the first time since 2010.

With housing moving up the political agenda and becoming a key issue for voters – as its prominence in the election manifestos suggests – this year’s conference will provide one of the first opportunities after the election for housing professionals to hear about the priorities of the new government and what the prospects are for social housing, improving the quality of rented homes, the future of the leasehold sector and plans to boost homeownership.

If we do get a Labour government, as the polls predict, will we see a return to the building of social housing in significant numbers? Back in 1924, the passing of the Wheatley Act by the first Labour government resulted in more than 500,000 homes being built in eight years and was considered its crowning glory. A hundred years on, will Keir Starmer celebrate the centenary buy doing something similar? And, if so, where will the money come from?

Ben Cooper joined the Fabian Society in 2018 and leads on housing research. In 2022, Ben was selected by MHP Group as one of the ‘30 to watch in politics’ award for under-30s. Ben is also a trustee for a charity supporting people with complex disabilities and is chair of the Co-op Party’s (dis)Ability Network.

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Day 2 – Thursday, 18 July at The View, London

Confirmed speakers and session overviews

The state we’re in: Darren McGarvey, award-winning author, social commentator, musician and broadcaster

Darren McGarvey is a man in demand. Since his book ‘Poverty Safari: Understanding the Anger of Britain’s Underclass’ won the prestigious Orwell prize back in 2018, the political activist, rapper and broadcaster has become a much sought-after social commentator, renowned for his unflinching yet perceptive views on the state of 21^st century Britain.

An authentic working-class voice, his recent BBC documentary ‘Darren McGarvey: The State We’re In’ lifted the lid on the state of the UK’s public services and in August he takes his very personal show, ‘Trauma Industrial Complex – Trauma and Oversharing in the Age of Lived Experience’, to the Edinburgh Fringe.

We’re delighted that he has found time to join us at this year’s HQN annual conference where we’ll hear his thoughts on everything from housing and the welfare state to the new political landscape after the general election.

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A Royal Commission on housing: Richard Blakeway, The Housing Ombudsman; Lord Richard Best; Heather Thomas, Chief Executive, Sapphire Independent Housing and Vice Chair of g320

In January, the Housing Ombudsman Richard Blakeway called for setting up of a royal commission “to re-establish housing policy as a health intervention and create a long-term plan for social housing”.

Back in the 19^th and early 20^th centuries, royal commissions were regarded as an effective and independent way to focus the national attention on a significant issue. However, the last time a royal commission was held in the UK was 25 years ago and focused on the reform of the House of Lords.

In this session, 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.

He’ll be joined by Lord Richard Best, the crossbench peer, who will talk about his experience as Secretary to the Duke of Edinburgh’s Inquiry into British Housing (1984-1991) and offer his views on what a new royal commission might achieve.

Heather Thomas, the chief executive of Sapphire Independent Housing and Vice Chair of the g320 group of small housing associations, will join the discussion to share her own thoughts on why a focus on housing inequalities and the marginalised and vulnerable in society is long overdue.

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Are you ready for consumer regulation? Kate Dodsworth, Chief of Regulatory Engagement, Regulator of Social Housing

“We’re raring to go”. That’s what Kate Dodsworth told HQN at the start of the new era of consumer regulation in April. Whether housing providers feel the same way, however, is another matter.

It’s unlikely the regulator will have much sympathy for those that aren’t ready. Changes to the way social housing is regulated have been on the cards for years and the new consumer standards and approach to inspection have been consulted on heavily. Kate is also clear that doing the bare minimum won’t be enough:

“We expect to see tenants living in safe homes, with universally good-quality landlord services, and a relationship underpinned by trust, respect and transparency. This is similar to landlords’ core mission. And I think that must be at the heart of what landlords are striving to do. It’s not just about passing a regulatory test.”

By July, the regulator will have had “boots on the ground” for three months and this session will focus on what they’re seeing – both good and bad – while providing advice and guidance for organisations yet to go through the inspection process. As always, Kate will be happy to answer questions from the floor, including the prospects for social housing regulation under a new government.

Kate Dodsworth is the Chief of Regulatory Engagement at the Regulator of Social Housing. During her 30-year housing career she has worked for a range of organisations, including the National Housing Federation, Optivo and Gateway Housing where she was chief executive before joining the regulator.

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In conversation with Kwajo: Kwajo Tweneboa, social housing campaigner

It’s fair to say that Kwajo has single handedly been one of the key drivers of change in the social housing sector since first coming to prominence in 2021, when he tweeted about watching his father die in a flat that wasn’t fit to live in.

What was initially a personal campaign to highlight the poor treatment his family received from their housing associations, soon became a national mission as more and more tenants got in touch to say they’d similar experiences of living in poor-quality social housing.

Since then, Kwajo has become the UK’s most well-known housing activist, regularly appearing on TV, meeting with the secretary of state and hosting his own Channel 4 documentary.

In this session, Kwajo will reflect on the last three years and whether his campaigning work has made a genuine difference, while looking ahead to what the future holds for the country’s approach to social housing and the people who live in it on the back of the general election result.

Kwajo will also talk about his new book, ‘Our Country in Crisis: Britain’s Housing Emergency and How We Rebuild’, which is published on the same day as the HQN conference. He’ll be signing copies for delegates at the end of the day.

To book your place at this year’s HQN annual conference, click here.