Look to the future

When Neil Hadden strode through the doors of Genesis’ gleaming north London office block last year, he was entering an organisation emerging from crisis. If there had been an award for the most gossiped about housing association in 2008/09, Genesis could confidently have ordered the champagne and written an acceptance speech.

The 40,000-home provider had become a one-word punch line. Heard the one about the housing association that’s arranged a £20 million loan from one of its peers? Or the one about the landlord that paid massively over the odds for a plot of land in Stratford? How about the association ordered by the housing regulator to commission an independent investigation into the conduct of meetings held by one of its subsidiaries? The answer was always the same.

Now firmly ensconced in his rather grand office, Mr Hadden indicates that he was well aware of the stories about Genesis at the time. Did this make him think twice about taking the job? And what has he been doing since his arrival to turn things around?

Formerly deputy chief executive of the Homes and Communities Agency’s predecessor, the Housing Corporation, the Genesis chief certainly oozes a gruff confidence - he’s social housing’s version of Ken Stott, the Scottish actor who plays the lead role in ITV’s detective drama Rebus, to whom he bears an uncanny physical resemblance.

With a reputation for being somewhat driven in his career, you get the impression that Mr Hadden is never happier than when he’s making big, important decisions. The question that causes him the greatest difficulty during the interview is ‘how do you like to unwind outside work?’ (The answer is ‘watching Coventry City play football’ although ‘whether that helps me to relax is a different matter’.)

Surely someone with his career focus must have entertained some doubts, though, when approached about Genesis?

Not at all. ‘It was a very attractive proposition,’ he insists. ‘It’s in the upper echelons of associations in England. By turnover it’s in the top 10. It has tremendous potential.’

Problems are in the past

He insists several times that he does not want to talk about any problems Genesis might have had in the past. Presumably, however, they must have been something he thought about before he signed on the dotted line.

In January 2009 - just eight months before he took up the post of chief executive vacated by Anu Vedi - as the credit crunch really took hold of a number of housing associations it emerged that Genesis had secured a promise from fellow social landlord London & Quadrant to lend it up to £20 million. When pushed, Mr Hadden admits that ‘everybody knew it had some problems’. But, he asserts, ‘so the only way was up. What did I have to lose?’

As it happens, the timing of his move was pretty good. Months after he left Aldwyck Housing Association, the organisation he had run for the previous four years, it was engulfed in a storm after an employment tribunal ruled that its dismissal of a housing officer had been unfair and an act of race discrimination. The judgment revealed that Mr Hadden had dismissed the allegations made by the officer, Errol Curniffe, as ‘frivolous, vexatious and completely unfounded’. Mr Hadden had not been directly involved in the dismissal.

Perhaps unsurprisingly this is an area that Mr Hadden is not keen to expand on. When prompted, his face clouds over and he will only say: ‘I have no comment on that. That is history.’ As I later leave the building, his press officer helpfully suggests that this is a story that might not be relevant to this article.

Strides forward

Mr Hadden is more comfortable talking about the undeniable strides Genesis has made since he took over, and his plans for the future.

He reveals that this year’s annual report is likely to demonstrate a substantial improvement in the group’s finances. ‘Our surplus in 2008/09 was only £700,000 and our turnover was £200 million,’ he states. ‘This year, with a similar turnover we will be posting a surplus of around £10 million.’

While Mr Hadden is hardly someone to whoop and holler about this change, one imagines it has caused him more enjoyment than watching championship side Coventry City in recent times. He is certainly confident enough to predict that Genesis is well on its way back to being one of the sector’s premier league performers.

The 55-year-old is keen to emphasise that there are still many changes to come for the landlord, its subsidiaries and its tenants. ‘This is a two to three-year journey,’ he states.

One of the plans is for Genesis to operate in a more concentrated geographical area, selling off around 800 homes in order to do so. It is also looking to amalgamate its subsidiaries - PCHA, Pathmeads and Springboard housing associations - in order to reduce ‘duplication of effort’ and become more efficient. The changes would see it focus operations mainly in London, Hertfordshire and Essex.

Financial confidence

None of the proposals are driven by financial considerations, Mr Hadden stresses. He points out that lenders have confidence in Genesis, which is borne out by the fact that it raised £250 million through a bond issue before Christmas. ‘My key message is that we are doing this in order to improve the services we provide to our customers,’ he says.

While Mr Hadden is clearly enjoying making his mark at Genesis, he is at pains to point out - several times - that this is not a one-man band. Much of his eight months in charge has been spent talking to staff and tenants about how they want Genesis to change. All staff members were invited to contribute to the formulation of the landlord’s vision, mission statement and values, he states. Following that, managers and directors drew up a list of the housing association’s five key objectives. These include being a financially strong organisation and becoming a top-quartile performer in all areas. There is also some charming management-speak about ‘re-energising our commitment to customers’ - which roughly translated suggests tenants can expect better services.

The taciturn Mr Hadden’s face lights up when he talks about these plans. He says his track record at the Housing Corporation proves he is a man who knows how to deliver. In 27 years at the government agency he became a well-known figure in the sector as he rose to the post of deputy chief executive. He lists his main achievement during this time as ‘meeting targets’.

‘I was in charge of the investment programme,’ he states. ‘The corporation had a great record of meeting targets,’ he adds matter-of-factly.
Jim Coulter, chair of Bridging Newcastle Gateshead, was chief executive of the National Housing Federation when Mr Hadden was at the corporation. He confirms Mr Hadden’s reputation for being extremely focused on his job. ‘He knows precisely what he wants,’ he states. ‘He’s a very clear thinker.

‘When he was assistant chief executive he effectively designed the system that we still by and large have today of a limited number of preferred developers.’ This previous focus on value for money would stand him in good stead in the current economic climate, he suggests.

Funding cuts

For someone who clearly prides himself on delivery, there is obviously one big cloud on the horizon: funding cuts. What do they mean for a man who says one of his main interests is helping to ‘build more homes to house more people’?

The immediate outlook is not terrible, Mr Hadden says, but he indicates that if housing bears the brunt of government cuts then the inevitable consequence will be social problems.

‘Surprise, surprise - waiting lists will go up and housing problems will increase,’ he says. ‘We will be sowing the problems of the future.’

He proudly states that Genesis built 2,000 homes last year and aims to complete 750 more this year. It has a current pipeline of more than 4,000 new homes. But it is unlikely to launch any ambitious bids for new land in the near future. ‘We haven’t bought a site since April 2008,’ he admits. ‘We have a number in the pipeline, which will deliver us new homes. We don’t need to go chasing new sites.’

Difficult choices

The bullish chief executive indicates that it may be time for the government to look at some other difficult options. These include reforms to security of tenure for new tenants - a subject he’s discussed with the housing minister.

‘I met Grant Shapps and I asked him whether he was going to do something about security of tenure. He said he would dearly love to, but politically he knew that he couldn’t.’

With that, Mr Hadden hits another target as the interview draws to a close almost precisely at the allotted time. He is clearly determined that Genesis will remain one of the most talked about organisations in the sector for the foreseeable future. If he delivers on his plans, this time it will be for the right reasons.

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