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A week in the life of… a policy and practice officer
Hannah Keilloh works four days a week as a policy and practice officer at the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) in Coventry
Monday
We can now choose to work from home or go back to the office. As a parent of young children, I mostly work from home, and I start my week by walking them to school. I rush back home for a Zoom call with a journalist who is writing a piece on Everyone In and mental health and is looking for CIH’s perspective.
Next is our weekly whole-staff briefing. These virtual briefings started at the beginning of the first lockdown and have been an important way of staying in touch.
In the afternoon, I attend the Highbury meeting, an independent group of housing, planning and related professionals who aim to increase housing output.
Next, I review a letter on the Community Infrastructure Levy to housing secretary Michael Gove that we are co-signing with other public and private organisations. It expresses our concerns that a new levy could threaten the delivery of affordable housing and infrastructure. I lead on the planning work at CIH, having previously worked as a planner.
Tuesday
I head into the office. I try to go about once a week to catch up with colleagues and to avoid the daily ‘rock, paper, scissors’ for the small office space my husband and I share.
I recently started leading on the homelessness directorate at CIH. This morning, I have been invited to start attending two weekly meetings on policy and public affairs with several key organisations.
Next, I have a meeting with Jo Richardson, CIH’s president, on her Homeful campaign, which seeks to build on the success of the response to rough sleeping and homelessness during the pandemic.
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Wednesday
I am undertaking a CIH Level 4 qualification in housing to increase my depth of knowledge, as my degree was in sociology. Fitting in online learning alongside work and home life isn’t easy, but today I manage to squeeze in a little time.
I have several internal meetings, including one for our policy and practice team. I have got used to chairing and presenting virtually and have mostly got over disconcerting elements like seeing yourself on the screen.
Thursday
I chair a roundtable discussion with the Regulator of Social Housing and a number of local authorities on supporting stock-holding councils in responding to the Social Housing White Paper.
In the afternoon, I speak at the UK Housing Review Briefing Paper (virtual) launch. I present a paper I wrote on the continuing controversy over planning reform in England. Straight after, I dial in for the second half of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Ending Homelessness informal meeting on the use of exempt accommodation.
Friday
Fridays are non-working days for me. I mainly spend Fridays catching up on life admin and trying to bring some kind of order back to the house.
A week in the life series
Our ‘A week in the life’ series features housing professionals talking through what they do in their job on a day-to-day basis.
Find out about the different challenges housing workers in a variety of roles face in a given week.
We aim to feature staff from housing associations, ALMOs, local authorities and more.
Click here to nominate yourself or a colleague for inclusion
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