Major changes are underway in the support arrangements that keep the Empty Homes Network running, with Darryl Lawrence's Rochdale Housing Initiative stepping in to take on some of the key roles.
After David Gibbens expressed an interest in flexible retirement, Officers held an awayday in Oxford last January to plan the way forwards. Expressions of Interest were sought for a sole provider but no suitable offers were forthcoming. As a response, David Gibbens and Darryl Lawrence (pictured) worked up a joint proposal that splits the support work in two. This proposal was accepted by the Executive at its meeting in London on 6th December.
The new arrangements mean that the organisation of the annual Conference and the role of Policy Lead (and 'leadership' generally) pass to Darryl/RHI, while most day-to-day administration, maintenance of the Information Library, creating of news stories and other content and administration of the website stay with David Gibbens. To reflect the new split of responsibilities, the Executive appointed Darryl as Secretary in place of David, who was appointed Assistant Secretary
Darryl/RHI's role will be funded by EHN's commercial income, which includes advertising and the Conference, and David will continue to earn 75% commission on fee income. These amounts are gross, as relevant running costs such as insurance, website hosting etc are picked up by the providers.
It is planned for the new arrangements to help EHN become more resilient, with information about how EHN operates behind the scenes being shared between the two providers and the development of joint access to various key EHN resources.
The new arrangements came into effect on 1st January with implementation supposed to be complete by the end of March 2018.