Richard Best was chief executive of the National Housing Federation for 15 years then of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation for 18 years; he was chair of The Property Ombudsman (for eight years to 2017) and chair of Hanover Housing Association (for eight years to 2016); he has chaired a series of commissions and inquiries covering rural housing, housing in Northern Ireland, housing for an ageing population, local authority housing, private renting, et al. In Parliament he has piloted five Private Members Bills through the House of Lords and has chaired two Select Committees. Currently he chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group on Housing and Care for Older People; the government’s Regulation of Property Agents Working Group; the Affordable Housing Commission (of the Smith Institute/Nationwide Foundation); and the Centre for Social Justice’s Housing Commission. He is a Church Commissioner, an Hon Fellow of the RIBA and Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.
