25 signatures reached
To: The Notting Hill Genesis Board
NHG Tenants & Residents Choice for New Chief Executive
We, the undersigned, are aware that Kate Davies, previous chief executive of Notting Hill Genesis (NHG), is leaving her post.
The NHG branch of SHAC believes that Davies' tenure has been an abject failure. She has not provided the kind of landlord they want and need. Instead, the organisation has become more remote, more highly commercialised, and consistently neglectful of our needs.
To rub salt in the wound, Davies has been awarded a CBE for her 'services to housing'. The establishment has illustrated just how far their views and those of tenants and residents diverge.
The group is campaigning for the new chief executive to have the qualities and experience they desire in order to make sure any changes under a new regime are built around them, not NHG's city investors, and to set the priorities for the new boss.
We do not trust the board to make the right decision alone. Tenants and residents - the people most affected by the appointment of a new chief executive - want a say.
NHG tenants and residents want a new CEO who:
• Has spent a significant period living in housing association accommodation.
• Has a lot of humility, understanding, honesty, and integrity.
• Is not so crass that they would hold a party to launch their book on the anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire.
• Is empathic to the diverse backgrounds and needs of those needing and living in social housing.
• Is not self-serving.
• Is willing to take responsibility when things go wrong.
• Promotes staff on the basis of competence, not favouritism
• Has extensive experience in running an organisation with a good track record serving people.
• Understands technology and knows how to make sure the systems work.
Their priorities on appointment must be:
• Decent homes over commercial development
• Good communication with tenants and residents
• Monitoring staff closely and making sure they do their jobs honestly and properly
• Comprehensive auditing of all the functions of the organisation
• Ensure contractors do their jobs properly
• Invest in proper training for staff and contractors
• Take time to find out how tenants and residents are really experiencing day-to-day contact with NHG
• Making the complaints process fit for purpose
• Making NHG’s system transparent
• Establishing proper accountability for NHG’s actions
Why is this important?
For too long, housing associations have trended towards commercialisation, leaving the needs of their tenants and residents low down their list of priorities.
To the boards and executives, their tenants, residents, and staff are mere commodities, instead of human beings whose lives can be devastated when their employer or landlord mistreats them.
We have witnessed record surpluses alongside extortionate rents and service charges, low pay for junior staff, and buildings left to rot away, inflicting ill-health on their occupants. Lives are ruined, but there is little accountability or access to justice.
None of this is inevitable or necessary, and we want a leadership with a different focus and set of priorities.
How it will be delivered
The petition will be sent to the board and executive of Notting Hill Genesis.
