The charity Empty Homes has announced that Helen Williams is replacing David Ireland as the new Chief Executive. Helen was previously an Assistant Director at the National Housing Federation, the industry body for housing associations.
Chair of Empty Homes Mark Hemingway commented:
“I am absolutely delighted to be able to welcome Helen to the Empty Homes Charity. She has a wealth of housing experience and she is the perfect choice as the new Chief Executive to replace David. Helen will be able to build on the many successes we have had in our campaigning work and she will be able to guide us through the years ahead. I am really looking forward to working with her."
We have not been able to find out much about Helen Williams beyond her previious role at the National Housing Federation where she was Assistant Director for Neighbourhoods for several years until just a couple of months ago. We look forward to finding out more in the near future. Commenting on her appointment, Helen is reported to have said
“I am delighted to be given the opportunity to leadEmpty Homes. It’s an issue that I have cared about for many years. Housing is likely to be one of the key battlegrounds in next year’s general election. The evidence of the last few years is that policy changes really can have an impact on the issue. We need to make the case that more needs to be done to ensure that wasted homes are effectively used to meet housing need.”
We don't know exactly when Helen Williams will start her new role but we have heard that she will overlap with David for a while. We look foward to greeting Helen Williams at our Conference on May 20th in Birmingham.
Meanwhile, David has secured a job as Director of the Building and Social Housing Foundation which has been pro-active in research connected to empty homes such as the New Tricks for Old Bricks report and research around self-help housing.