I’d never seen so many sequins and pink cowboy hats in my life. Yes, I was heading for Wembley at the same time as the wonderful Shania Twain and some bloke called Harry Styles were playing. You might have heard of them.

Why was I there? I was enroute to HQN’s Housing’s Next Generation competition at the offices of Sovereign Network Group. Many thanks for the use of the facilities.

All of the contestants were great. Sorry, I make a useless judge because I can’t split them.

The first exercise was to explain what you’d put in a time capsule setting out your vision for the sector in 30 years’ time. When a candidate started talking about her hopes for homelessness in Brent that sparked a Proustian rush. The past came flooding back.

About 40 years ago I cycled from Clapton to Wembley and all around Brent each and every day trying to lease homes to get folk out of so-called bed and breakfasts. Hundreds of miles, week in and week out. God alone knows how many pairs of BHS chinos and inner tubes I wore through. And in all weathers, too. My new glasses slipped off in the rain and shattered under the tyres of a Cortina estate. Coming back from Rayners Lane in the snow once I was so cold I couldn’t open the front door. In the end my employers took pity and issued me with a splendid motor car, which I promptly crashed. It was time to move!

Never in my worst nightmares did I think we’d still have a huge homeless problem. Yet the misery continues. You could even say it’s getting worse with so many children’s deaths linked to being in temporary accommodation.

I hope the next generation do much better than my lot at sorting out homelessness.

That’s not been my only trip through the past darkly. We recently worked with a council and its ALMO near Manchester. They deservedly received a C1 from the regulator, just like they hit three stars in the old days. But you can only get so far with good management. It’s as plain as the nose on your face that estates I’ve been visiting here for a long time need money spent on them. Three stars used to trigger a release of cash – why not do the same with C1?

There’s a lot of silly nonsense talked about Manchester v London. Coming South, after you’ve pocketed the delay-repay cash from Avanti, leave Euston on the Drummond Street side, plough through the HS2 devastation but don’t go quite as far as Mandelson’s house. You’ll see Camden’s Regent’s Park Estate – it, too, is crying out for investment.

This is madness. It allows people like Sebastian Milbank to launch a campaign in the Telegraph to get rid of social housing in London. He says it’s crumbling and very few people can access it. So, what’s the point of social housing? To him, and countless acolytes on social media, it looks moribund.

We need to be proud of every social home in every area to truly combat stigma. I get the impression some folks think we’re only one press release away from conquering stigma. It’s not true. If we don’t love our estates, others will step in to take advantage. Please open the chequebook, Mr Burnham.

In the end everyone will be grateful if he does this. My friend, Kiran Duggal, is also on the Telegraph. She writes about the great contribution tenants make to life in the capital. They’ve fought campaigns to keep the best pubs open. The word young Master Milbank is looking for is ‘thanks’. We’d be pleased to welcome a man of his erudition, too, so he can explain many of the items on the new gastro menu to us. WTF is aioli?

Due to the regulator forcing all social landlords to survey their homes we know how much it costs to fix them. Do it. If we continue to look like a declining sector we’re a sitting duck for extreme right-wing wonks. If we don’t watch out the tide might turn in their favour. They’re well funded. Unless we build many more homes then children will die in temporary accommodation. That’s on us.

The agenda for Andy Burnham on social housing could not be clearer. Use it or lose it. If you leave it as it is, private equity will have a field day.

Alistair McIntosh,
Chief Executive, HQN