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Dispatches from Cardiff: Community Housing Cymru’s annual conference

There was a mixed atmosphere at this year’s Community Housing Cymru (CHC) annual conference, held at the Holland House hotel in Cardiff on Thursday and Friday this week

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Cardiff hosted the CHC annual conference
Cardiff hosted the CHC annual conference
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Dispatches from Cardiff: Community Housing Cymru’s annual conference #ukhousing #annualconf17

All the talking points from the CHC conference in Cardiff #ukhousing #annualconf17

Key briefing points from the annual sector conference in Wales #ukhousing #annualconf17

On the one hand, the launch of CHC’s 20-year vision, ‘Housing Horizons’, spoke of a sector with volumes of self-belief, one that considers itself to be entering into a new era, with added ambition, influence and significance across Wales.

It calls for housing associations in the country to double – yes, double – their housebuilding in the next 20 years, delivering 75,000 homes.

But on the other hand, an inescapable cloud cast a tragic shadow over the event. Former communities and children secretary Carl Sargeant died in an apparent suicide just 10 days ago, soon after being dismissed over unspecified allegations concerning his personal conduct. He had been scheduled to speak at the conference and was known personally by many of those in attendance.

Such things are difficult to talk about at the best of times – and certainly so at industry conferences – so his death was at times an elephant in the room.

Below, Inside Housing takes a glimpse at the key moments from the past two days.


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The minister’s address

There were rumours that Rebecca Evans – who became housing and regeneration minister for the Welsh Government in the reshuffle triggered by Mr Sargeant’s sacking – understandably might opt not to speak at the conference.

However, Ms Evans, who is assembly member (AM) for the Gower, did indeed turn out to address the sector for the first time. She was clearly nervous, but it was a heartfelt speech from someone who knew Mr Sargeant well.

And she was keen to stress that, in her view, the best way to continue her predecessor’s legacy was to continue to support social housing and battle homelessness. There was an emphasis on wanting to work closely with the sector and be widely known within it.

The initial feedback from the sector was optimistic.

Regulation, regulation, regulation

Earlier this year, the Welsh Assembly’s Public Accounts Committee carried out a high-profile investigation into the regulation of housing associations.

In a session during the first afternoon of the conference, Nick Ramsey, Conservative AM and the committee’s chair, and Lee Waters, a Labour AM and fellow committee member, discussed their process and findings.

It was an eye-opening look at the inquiry from the committee’s perspective. Mr Waters admitted it was “surprised” by the level of interest and engagement from the sector.

He added that the committee’s overall impression of its findings were “broadly positive” and supported the idea that housing associations deserve extra freedoms – but “with that should come the responsibility to be more transparent”.

They discussed the recommendations from the committee’s inquiry report – 14 of 15 of which have been accepted by the Welsh Government in full, with another partially accepted. Their focus was on understanding the limitations of a co-regulation model, remaining committed to prioritising good governance, and being cautious of the risks associated with diversification.

Better, stronger, older

Day two of the conference programme was dominated by business-oriented sessions, focusing on how housing associations can shake themselves up. There were talks on using digital technology, customer engagement and leadership among others.

But the pick of the bunch was a talk from Cathy Osborne and Lawrence Bowles of Savills on housing Wales’ ageing population.

It was a typically stat-rich Savills affair, but the key figures were that 34% of the current workforce in Wales will have passed retirement age by 2036, while there will be 96,000 fewer working age adults. That presents a big challenge for housing providers.

There are reasons to be optimistic though, particularly after the Local Housing Allowance cap for supported housing was dropped.

But the fact remains that in addition to high demand for new stock, much of the existing stock for older people is no longer up to scratch. This is a challenge which could make or break the success of the sector’s 20-year vision, and it will require a clear strategy from Welsh Government and housing providers, to deliver enough of the right kinds of schemes.

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