Five young housing professionals have made it through to the final of Housing’s Next Generation competition 2022, taking place at HQN’s annual conference in July. Mark Lawrence gives the lowdown on what each finalist is all about, and what they’ve done to get to the final.
2022 Housing’s Next Generation judges:
Tanisha Rigby,
Housing Next Generation 2021 finalist
Sheron Carter,
Chief Executive, Hexagon Housing Association
Olu Olanrewaju,
Senior Consultant, Altair
Tony Stacey,
CEO, South Yorkshire Housing Association
Alistair McIntosh,
HQN CEO
After three months of different stages, we’ve finally got our final five. We had an overwhelming number of nominations from housing associations, local authorities, ALMOs and the private sector this year, showing the diverse range of talent that exists in social housing.
Everyone that was nominated was given a place in the Next Generation Hub, our networking group that allows young housing professionals to connect, gain best practice and hear from industry experts.
But only 20 of those nominated could be shortlisted. Those 20 had to put forward a blog looking at either the cost-of-living crisis, disrepair or how to attract the best into housing.
After a tough few hours of decision-making, the judges whittled that list down to ten. The candidates were asked to produce a five-minute presentation looking at one idea that would change the sector for the better. After their presentations, the candidates were quizzed by the panel of judges, who made sure their ideas were watertight.
Every presentation brought something new to the table, and the judges had another difficult time deliberating between the semi-finalists.
But in the end, a final five had to be selected and you’ll find them in no particular order on the next few pages.
They will now present at the HQN annual conference in July on a topic linked to the conference theme of “past, present and future” and look at practical solutions to current sector issues.
Unveiling the five finalists, HQN’s CEO, Alistair McIntosh, said: “These five young leaders have shown us that they’re doing a fine job internally, can construct a strong written argument, and effectively provide solutions through strong presentations.
“We’ve seen a whole wealth of amazing young housing professionals in this year’s competition, and it’ll be great to see how the five step up once again to show what they’re capable of in the final.”
Tom Leon-Grimes, 25
Service Development Manager
Orbit Group
“Currently most of our buildings don’t have the intelligence to tell us when things are going wrong”
Social housing providers need to start seeing themselves as “digital assets businesses”. That was Tom’s argument in his semi-final presentation.
He said adding in technology such as property sensors, energy monitoring and building information models will allow organisations to gather greater intelligence and operative better and more effectively.
He spoke about the need for investment in digital assets, claiming this will help massively with ageing stock and reduce the need to treat residents like “human alarms”.
Outlining the large amount of benefits he sees to this approach, Tom said it’d deliver better health, energy-cost savings and increased satisfaction for residents. In terms of the assets themselves, Tom believes this approach would mean homes would last for longer, have improved quality, and be better on energy efficiency.
This data and technology-led approach would also lead to fewer routine visits and reduced maintenance costs.
He bemoaned the sector for not using its data well enough – for example, not following up properly on stock condition surveys. He said the work could free up people’s resources to be placed elsewhere and drive further positive benefits.
Kemba Mitchell, 24
Project Coordinator
South Yorkshire Housing Association
“It’d be naïve to say this is the golden bullet, but we need to think more radically to escape our current entrenched view”
Calling the housing market “broken” and highlighting the huge gaps between government support for homeownership against the support for genuinely affordable housing, Kemba called for a “radical rethink” in how the housing market works.
She used her presentation to look at the introduction of a land tax, where developers would have to pay a tax on the value of the land in the bid to reduce landbanking.
She said another tax to increase the amount the government has to spend on affordable housing development would “readdress the balance of power away from the few” and ensure that communities aren’t denied the good-quality, sustainable homes they need.
When asked by the judges about how many homes she hoped this would build, she reiterated her view that this wasn’t the only solution needed, but that it’d make a huge dent in the 1.1 million homes that are waiting to be built after being given planning permission.
She also argued that these plans would create a “more positive cycle” – with less money also needing to be spent on housing benefit in the long term.
Hanifa Blakemore-Razaq, 28
Communities Project Manager
Clarion Futures
“Investing in young people in our communities will improve the housing sector for the better”
Hanifa put young people front and centre of her presentation, arguing that they’re an untapped resource as organisations look to develop new services and prevent issues from occurring.
Using feedback she’d gathered on the ground, she said residents are asking for young people to be involved and believes this will help them have a confident voice in housing in the future, tackle stigma, reduce evictions, help shape services and create sustainable neighbourhoods.
Hanifa used her experience in communities to call for more decision-making opportunities and empowerment for young people. She encouraged the development of a housing youth charter – a document that housing associations sign up to, created and written by young residents.
This document would design a framework for housing associations to embed a youth voice and contain annual pledges that means young people can hold the organisation to account over delivery.
Using these techniques, Hanifa argued, organisations would be able to address issues before they became bigger problems, as well as deliver better services, build trust among the youth community and provide training or employment opportunities.
Gift Ngubane, 27
Employment Support Advisor
Abri
“I believe that home is somewhere you belong, it’s somewhere you can feel part of a community”
Focusing on homelessness, Gift used his presentation to give a personal story about seeing a homeless person in freezing temperatures and then being told nothing could be done to help them.
He said if the sector doesn’t play an active role in the increasing numbers of homelessness, “we are going to be fighting the brunt of it”.
He said there needs to be collaborative working between housing associations and local authorities, encouraging more to be done with empty buildings. While he praised some of the emergency shelters, Gift argued they should only be that – and not long-term places to stay.
Asked by the judges about who he believes needs to be involved, Gift answered by saying that everyone needs to play a part to “provide holistic support”.
He urged housing associations to agree to ideas such as using Section 106 to encourage developers to take on one homeless person (or more) per development to provide training and employment, and then doing the same with procurement contracts.
Judges said his presentation was “engaging and brought the emotional argument forward too”.
Gemma Brookes, 28
Project Surveyor NetZero Carbon Team
Orbit Group
“We need to remove the culture of competition in order to improve services in the sector”
Gemma used her semi-final presentation to call for more collaborative working between housing associations, emphasising the huge potential it could bring.
She said the sector could work towards a creation of libraries of material, working groups, resource sharing, open and honest discussions, and cooperative pilots and innovation.
The benefits she outlined were overwhelming, including savings in time and money in reducing repetition of pilot schemes and creating a bulk-buying power for the sector.
Using net zero as an example, Gemma said collaborative working could deter some organisations from selling off the stock that’s “hard to treat” and would lead to more social homes staying in the sector.
She also said the current offer in the sector is that “on demand answers just aren’t there” and that’s why there’s so much being wasted on consultancy and webinars.
Her belief is that “honesty and openness is vital if the sector is to develop effectively” and the judges agreed, calling her presentation “knowledgeable” and “full of strength and passion”.
