It will be all white on the night

Probably the most surprising result of our survey is that, despite housing’s socially-aware remit, just one head of housing out of England’s 100 largest councils is not white: David Lewis at Lewisham council. This is far fewer than the 6.9% of all council employees from a BME background.

The picture is not much better at housing associations. Although eight of the 100 largest have a BME chief executive, four of those counted in the Housing Corporation’s league of the 100 largest associations are actually headed by the same person – Anu Vedi, group chief executive of Genesis Housing Group (see fact file).

So in reality, just five people from BME backgrounds have risen to a chief executive post at the largest housing associations. And within these, again, there is just one black person – Clive Coley of South London Family Housing Association – and four Asian people. This is despite the fact that 13% of housing association workers overall are not white. And not one of these BME leaders is female.

Things may be changing, though.

The survey shows that while BME leaders control at least as much stock as their white counterparts, on average they are several years younger. This suggests that BME people are better represented in the younger generation of chief executives now coming through.

Another positive result is that BME people are not just confined to BME specialist associations: within the largest 100 associations, all the BME chief executives are heads of general needs organisations.

If we can’t have more BME leaders when we’re trying to meet the diverse housing needs of society, it’s a failing of the sector

Chan Kataria, East Midlands Housing

Still, the overall findings have drawn criticism. A spokesperson for the Campaign for Racial Equality says: “The results of the survey are disturbing, but not surprising. The figures show that, just like in many other areas across the public sector, ethnic minorities are still struggling to break through into the top ranks.”

But Chan Kataria, chief of East Midlands housing association, is taken aback by the results: “They’re surprising because we are distinct from the private sector in that we have diversity as a cornerstone of our sector. If we can’t have [more BME leaders] when we’re trying to meet the diverse housing needs of society, it’s a failing of the sector.”

So what’s the solution? Few BME leaders are keen to allege the sector is blighted by widespread discrimination, but several point to the need for a change in culture. Chan Abraham, chief executive of Huntingdonshire Housing Partnership, says: “There are popular myths about black and Asian people which started in the 50s and they still linger. The work of a few liberally minded people is not going to roll back more than 50 years of tendentious reporting by the popular press.”

Several chiefs praise mentoring schemes such as Career Opportunities for Ethnic Minorities (see box, below right) as an excellent way to encourage people from BME backgrounds to apply for the top jobs. And Darshan Matharoo, elected member for the West Midlands at the Chartered Institute of Housing council, points to training schemes like Warwick University’s Leadership Programme for Housing as a means of educating the sector. “Housing associations should have development and training programmes for ethnic minorities to gain the skills to compete for senior positions,” he says.

Kataria recommends targeting recruits with potential even before they choose their careers. “The sector has not done enough to make itself known to young people from BME backgrounds,” he says. “We need to proactively recruit from schools and universities, rather than advertising in BME media and hoping people will be interested.”