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Why I wanted to be a housing association chair

I have been a headteacher, director of education at a council and permanent secretary at the Department of Education, so I know the impact that poor housing can have on the life chances of young people. Today the education and housing sectors are increasingly fragmented, but in my new role as chair of Karbon Homes I hope to have a positive impact on both, writes Sir David Bell

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“Forty years in education taught me the impact poor housing can have on life chances,” Sir David Bell outlines what's driven him to become chair of @KarbonHomes and reveals what it’s like to start as chair during a pandemic #UKhousing

I had great plans for starting as the new chair of Karbon Homes on 1 May this year. Meetings with residents, visits to developments and engagement with staff all featured. Three months on and none of that has been possible, not face to face anyway.

Instead, I have very quickly immersed myself in Karbon’s business through Microsoft Teams, having ‘one to ones’ with my fellow non-executives, meeting – online at least – the chair of our residents’ group and having fortnightly catch-up board briefings with the executive team.

What comes across is an organisation that has responded tremendously well to the pandemic, as appears to be the case across the social housing sector.


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But to rewind for a moment. My day job is vice-chancellor and chief executive of the University of Sunderland. So, after 40 years in education, what am I doing chairing a housing association? The simple answer is that housing has always been a policy area that has interested me.

Having been both a headteacher and local authority director of education, I saw first-hand the impact that poor housing could have on the life chances of children and young people.

However good a job school might do, it is really difficult to learn if you go home each night to poor-quality and badly overcrowded conditions. That remains as true today as it was when I began my teaching career in the Glasgow Gorbals.

My time in local government in Newcastle also gave me the privilege of working alongside an outstanding housing director, such as David Butler who went on to lead the Chartered Institute of Housing with great distinction. By his example, David demonstrated the need to keep high-quality on-the-ground support to customers at the core of a good housing organisation of any shape or form.

But David taught me that the best housing leaders are always thinking about regenerating the communities and places in which people live. In that effort, schools also play a central role – something that is too easily forgotten now that both the education and housing sectors are increasingly fragmented.

How lucky I am now that David is my vice-chair at Karbon Homes and is acting as such a supportive mentor – which is something that all new chairs need.

I bring to the role at Karbon a decade’s experience of working in central government: first as her majesty’s chief inspector of schools running Ofsted and then six years as permanent secretary at the Department of Education (although it had three different names in my time there).

If I had reason to complain about the turnover of ministers, then it is to do with the merry-go-round in housing – one a year over the past decade. And despite the view that the machinery of government continues to turn, irrespective of the minister, frequent changes do matter.

For one, there is no continuity of political leadership and thus no consistency in policymaking. For another, it takes most ministers a few months to get their feet under the table and really understand the subject – which is not straightforward in housing.

“Schools also play a central role – something that is too easily forgotten now that both the education and housing sectors are increasingly fragmented”

We also know that a strong minister, who is confident in their brief, can drive change and really get to know the sector. You may not always agree with what they do but it is hard to question their knowledge and commitment.

Perhaps things will change now with the prime minister’s ‘build, build, build’ mantra coming to the fore. How that might benefit social housing remains to be seen.

Back to the present day and my role at the University of Sunderland. With more than 85% of our students being commuters – and more than 45% being mature – housing and communities really matter to our students.

And not just in Sunderland either. Across the country, housing is a ‘hot button’ issue in higher education. Whether its affordable rents in the private sector or the role of major specialist student accommodation providers, vice-chancellors will have an eye on what is happening in the housing world.

So with Karbon Homes having a mission to provide a strong foundation for life, it feels as if I have come full circle as housing and education – this time at university level – coalesce.

Sir David Bell, vice-chancellor and chief executive of the University of Sunderland; and chair of Karbon Homes

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