The Chartered Institute of Housing is to launch a best-value review of its operations after housing professionals slammed it as "unprofessional" and "astonishingly bad".
The comments came in the wake of last week's disclosure that the CIH lost £1.2m due to stock market falls last year and almost £1m on its conferences and courses (HT 30 May, page 9).

Tom Manion, chief executive of Irwell Valley Housing Association and a member of the CIH, said: "They've had the comfort of high stock-market returns over a number of years now and that has gone horribly wrong. But I find it astonishingly bad that they have continually lost money."

He cited the institute's training courses as a particular problem, describing them as "more at home in the 1970s".

Other sources said they felt the CIH's performance was "unprofessional" and a number said they would be raising the issue with CIH president Andrew Gray at the annual conference in Harrogate.

A Northern chief executive said: "If the CIH were a housing association, it would be closed down or at the least put under supervision by the Housing Corporation."

Gray defended the CIH against the criticisms. "Staffing issues resulted in the underachievement of our targets. The original planned deficit was £700,000, but we lost £1.2m. The five-year plan we have put in place will mean this won't happen again."

Joanne Roney, executive director of neighbourhoods at Sheffield council and a member of the CIH council, said: "As employers and members of the institute, we need to do more to encourage our staff towards membership and training courses. Members need to look at what they are doing in terms of giving something back to the institute."

Roney also said it would make sense to look at the potential for running joint courses and events with other bodies such as the National Housing Federation and the Local Government Association.

Source

Housing Today