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Trade body for Welsh landlords appoints new chair
Community Housing Cymru (CHC) has appointed an executive at large Midlands landlord Platform Housing Group as its new chair.
Gerraint Oakley started this month as chair of the organisation, which represents 33 housing associations managing around 174,000 homes across Wales. He has replaced Andrew Martyn-Johns as the membership body’s chair.
Mr Oakley is executive director of growth and development at 49,000-home Platform and chair of Scunthorpe-based Ongo Homes.
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He wrote on Linkedin: “I am very happy to share that I started as chair at Community Housing Cymru this month. I am looking forward to working with the team to support our members and partners across the sector in Wales.”
Mr Oakley completed his bachelor’s degree at the University of Wales in Cardiff and spent nearly nine years at Vodafone, where he led the telecoms company’s construction and real estate strategy.
He moved to house builder Barratt Developments and then became managing director of Pennant Homes, a Welsh developer.
In 2011 he entered the social housing sector, moving to Coastal Housing Group as executive director of development, before spending more than five years as managing director of Curo Homes, the housing association’s private housebuilding business. He joined Platform in 2020. He was also a non-executive board member at Linc Cymru until April 2022.
Stuart Ropke, chief executive of Community Housing Cymru, said: “Gerraint brings with him a wealth of experience in both private and social housing, in Wales and England - including roles at director and board level in our member organisations.
“His appointment comes at a crucial moment for Welsh housing associations, as they face intense pressure and multiple challenges. With Gerraint now charing our board, we will remain focused on the actions that will support our members to make the biggest difference in our communities.”
Earlier this month, Welsh housing minister Jayne Bryant told the CHC annual conference that she would create a social rent policy that “works for Wales”.
A sector-wide consultation on Wales’ future social rent policy will be carried out next summer.
In May, CHC welcomed four new commercial partners: Lovell Partnerships, RLH Architectural, Quantum Advisory and Barcud Shared Services.
The four new firms join CHC’s existing seven partners. These are: Centrus, Travis Perkins, Broadleaf Professional, the Communities & Housing Investment Consortium, Hugh James, Gallagher and Utility Aid.
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