New president of the Chartered Institute of Housing, Elly Hoult has unveiled the theme of her presidential campaign – choose housing.
Within that, she has has also announced that her campaign will be seeking to support children’s charity Barnardo’s .
The Choose Housing campaign seeks to raise awareness of the career opportunities in the housing sector, provide a focus to encourage new opportunities, and for people to seek out housing as a career of choice.
As Hoult points out, the phrase “I fell into a housing career” is often heard. Instead, she wants to encourage people to – as the campaign title says – choose housing.
Hoult said: “No matter who you are or where you come from, choosing the right career can shape your future. In the housing sector, we do more than provide homes – we create opportunities, build communities and make a real difference in people’s lives. Whether you’re just starting out or are looking to make a change, there’s a place for everyone in housing.
“I’m looking forward to working with CIH, its members, and the wider sector and industry contractors throughout this campaign to showcase the amazing career opportunities housing provides. Using our collective voice as a sector to encourage new opportunities and for the next generation to choose housing.”
Her chosen charity has been helping children for over 150 years. Barnardo’s works to ensure children and young people feel safer, happier, healthier and more hopeful, by running over 800 specialist services across the UK, and campaigning to change the way the system works for the better.
Hoult added:“Barnardo’s provide a lifeline for many children and young people. Their work to support children to be more hopeful centres around enabling children experiencing challenges to move into adulthood with hope and confidence, including career guidance and opportunities which resonates deeply with my campaign.
“I’m super enthusiastic to be fundraising for Barnardo’s over the next year and look forward to scaling great heights to support this worthwhile charity.”
Gavin Smart, CIH chief executive, said: “As housing professionals and organisations, we know that by collaborating we can learn from each other, to inspire, innovate, and evolve our work and make the sector stronger.
“Elly’s presidential campaign provides a fantastic platform to showcase housing as a career of choice, inspire the next generation of housing professionals and encourages new opportunities for the next generation of housing professionals. As a founding member of CIH Futures and now in her role as CIH president Elly is the ideal person to inspire people to choose housing.”
In her day job, Hoult is chief operating officer and deputy chief executive at Peabody, and is responsible for repairs and maintenance, neighbourhood management, tenancy services, data and customer contact across Peabody’s property portfolio providing 108,000 homes to more than 200,000 residents.
Hoult has over 25 years of experience in the housing sector, working her way up from supported housing officer to executive level roles. She formally assumed her presidential term earlier this month.
Main image: Elly Hoult, president, Chartered Institute of Housing
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