Max Steinberg, the Housing Corporation's charismatic director of investment and regeneration in the North, is a tough act to follow. But his successor John Carleton, a former England rugby star, is used to tough jobs.
Although Carleton, who takes over on 18 August, is relatively new to social housing, he is confident that his background in private finance will stand him in good stead. Most recently, he has been working for Barclay's Bank in the North-west, managing contracts with registered social landlords.

In his first interview since his appointment, Carleton says: "I've spent 20 years working in financial services and have always been focused on housing and, to a certain extent, registered social landlords.

"This is a great opportunity in my career.

I am a strong believer in housing associations and think the Housing Corporation has a major role in helping them deliver."

Delivery is a favourite theme for the 47-year-old, who will be responsible for about 40 staff and an annual budget of £124m.

"We can sit around and think of highbrow strategies, which will never get implemented," he says, "but I am very much one for more simple strategies which I know we can deliver on. I will judge myself on delivery."

Carleton was also enthusiastic about what the corporation in the North can offer the rest of the country in terms of market renewal and the decent homes standard. "Associations can expect me to have a very focused and robust approach to the strategies we develop on a national basis, but within that there has to be issues drilled down to a local agenda," he says.

It has to be challenging. If we don’t set challenging targets, then there’s nothing to aspire to

John Carleton on the decent homes standard

The North is not in for an easy ride. Speaking of the decency target, Carleton says: "It has to be challenging. If we don't set challenging targets, there's nothing to aspire to. We've always got to look at how we can raise the bar."

Sources in the North want Carleton to focus on stock rationalisation, neighbourhood management and the possible extension of the market renewal pathfinder initiative – three of the existing pathfinders fall within his remit.

He is sketchy on the details of what might be done in these areas but is already getting to grips with the role. "I want very quickly to get to know the staff across the North and understand what they see as the key agenda," he says. "Between now and [18 August] I want to put a certain amount of dialogue in place so I can hit the ground running."

But the successor to Steinberg will be expected to bring a personal touch to the job as well. Liverpool councillor Richard Kemp says: "Max was very good at being able to fix and mix across the region. Because he had so many contacts, he was able to bring together people in so many interesting ways."

So, is Carleton worried about following in Steinberg's footsteps? Apparently not.

Source

Housing Today