CIH Housing special

Closed Circuit rubbed shoulders with erstwhile-Apprentice star Nick Hewer at the annual Housing Heroes awards bash in Manchester on Monday. Ahead of the ceremony Mr Hewer’s main brush with the sector came when his father bought an extra care apartment the mid-90s for £150,000. By 2007 the property had fallen in value by almost half. Luckily, the extra care provider in question wasn’t up for any awards.  

Staying at the Housing Heroes celebrations, Closed Circuit was also fascinated to meet Graham Isdale, director of corporate affairs at the Wheatley Group.

Mr Isdale has a background in ‘crisis PR’. He told Closed Circuit his greatest triumph was handling the negative press for a turkey company which found itself in bother after its staff were filmed shoving broom handles up turkey’s backsides. Mr Isdale helped the company, proving the importance of not acting like a headless chicken. Or a broom-handled turkey. ​

The mood at Manchester this year was in danger of being glum. After all, with Right to Buy and £12bn of welfare cuts, things are not exactly looking great at the moment for social housing professionals. It was therefore refreshing to see New Charter Housing Group lightening the mood with a video on its stand of staff, including chief executive Ian Munro, miming along to ‘Happy’ by Pharrell Williams. ‘It might seem crazy what I’m about to say, sunshine she’s here, you can take a break.’ Well quite.

At a breakfast organised by Orbit on fuel poverty yesterday morning, the topic turned to whether the government simply doesn’t like housing association tenants because they house Labour voters. deputy chair, Professor Tony Crook, quipped that perhaps it would be a good idea for the association to take out a Conservative party membership for all its tenants. The professor would have only one problem, he continued: the chair of the board is Baroness Tessa Blackstone, a Labour peer.

Sir Robin Wales opened up his keynote address yesterday by asking the audience how many of them had read classic left-wing political novel The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists.

‘Aha, I’ve outed you all as a bunch of lefties,’ observed the mayor of Newham, after a smattering of hands went up. Perhaps not the most astounding revelation at a housing conference, but Sir Robin’s literary curiosity sparked similar inquiries from fellow speakers. 

Lord Bob Kerslake asked if anyone had read 50 Shades of Grey. If Sir Robin wanted to identify the lefties, Closed Circuit can only wonder what type of delegate Lord Kerslake wanted to meet.

Dave Sheridan, chief executive of Keepmoat Group, demonstrated exactly what leading from the front involves when it came to the company’s Rock and Roll karaoke on Tuesday.

Mr Sheridan dropped to the floor to play air guitar before belting out The Monkees’ Daydream Believer at the event in Manchester’s Midland Hotel.