Homes England recruiting regional directors in devolution drive

Homes England is recruiting regional directors to underpin a new, more devolved operating model, according to its chair.

Speaking at the Housing Community Summit yesterday, Pat Ritchie said that there was “likely to be about five regions”, each with their own team and a staff skilled in affordable housing, land, investment, planning and surveying.

“One of the sort of changes that Homes England will go through over this next year is developing a much stronger, empowered regional model,” she said. 

“So we will be recruiting new regional chief execs and new regional directors who will have the clout to be able to influence and make decisions about investment on behalf of their region.”

Homes England subsequently clarified that these would be regional director positions only; not regional chief executives.

It’s not known what the regions will be, but Homes England currently uses a five-region structure for its delivery partner panel, dividing the country into: North East, Yorkshire and The Humber; North West; Midlands; East and South East; and South and South West.

Ritchie also gave an update on progress to stand up the Housing Bank announced earlier this year. She revealed that Simon Century, former Legal & General’s head of Capital Investing, had started work as chief investment officer, leading work on the bank last week. 

She said that while the bank would be backed with £16bn over ten years, ti would eventually “become self-financing”.

The bank will provide a mixture of loans, equity guarantees and SME loans, she explained. 

“We’re looking at cash flow with SMEs and a range of other things to make it easier to develop, we use guarantees to underpin bringing new investors into the market,” she said.

Ritchie said the bank will be operational by April next year, by which point Homes England will have published an investment strategy.

Asked by an audience member whether housing associations with weaker governance and financial gradings would find it more difficult to access the Housing Bank

Ritchie gave a vague answer, explaining that part of the Bank’s role will be to look at how to “strengthen, through low cost loans, the housing sector”.