Appointment of relative unknown seen as sign the corporation's role is to be further reduced
A former accountant and troubleshooter for the Housing Corporation is to be its new chair.

The corporation was yesterday expected to announce that Peter Dixon, 57, would replace Baroness Brenda Dean when she steps down in September.

Names including Sir John Egan, author of the Rethinking Construction report, and Rabbi Julia Neuberger of health charity the King's Fund had been mentioned in connection with the post, but it is unclear who else was in the running for the £44,000-a-year job.

Dixon's appointment is something of a surprise to the sector because he is a relative unknown. However, he has been involved in social housing for some 30 years (see Who is Peter Dixon?, right).

A source said: "Dixon has a mix of a commercial and industrial background and worked as an accountant for a time at a bank. He knows the housing sector well and cares about social justice. He has a strong managerial record and has been used extensively by the corporation to get failing associations back on track."

The sector can expect an efficiency drive with better delivery and value for money coming top of his agenda, says Roger Humber, chair of Anglia Housing Group, where Dixon is a board member.

"I am sure delivery and efficiency are going to be his agenda. He will be looking at value-for-money delivery by RSLs."

Speculation has been rife in the sector that the choice of person to fill the top job would signal the government's longer-term intentions for the body. The feeling has been that the higher-profile the appointee, the more likely it is the government sees a long term future for the corporation.

The corporation has made a number of attempts to raise its profile in regulation and investment since losing its inspection role to the Audit Commission last year, but has been widely perceived to have yet to recover fully from the loss of its inspection role.

Dixon will have significant room to manoeuvre as the existing corporation board members were only recently given 12-month extensions to their terms, rather then the usual three-years.

Who is peter dixon?

“He’s a good, no-nonsense chap and has a very good grasp of the business and objectives of the sector,” says Roger Humber, chair of Anglia Housing Group where Dixon is a board member and chair of the group audit and finance committees. Dixon has also been a board member at London & Quadrant for three years, chairing its north Thames regional committee and treasury committee. The Housing Corporation made him a statutory appointee at troubled Ridgehill Housing Association earlier this year; he is believed to have worked with RSLs in the East Midlands, too. In 1965, he helped found New Islington and Hackney Housing Association, and he was a councillor in Islington and chair of its planning committee. He chairs the UCL Hospitals NHS Trust in London and is a council member of the NHS Confederation, a charity that represents all organisations involved in the NHS. In the private sector, Dixon is chairman of Manifest Voting Agency, which advises large institutional shareholders on breaches of governance within the firms they invest in. He is also a business consultant and former City venture capitalist.

What should the new boss do first?

Brendan Sarsfield, chief executive, New Islington & Hackney Housing Association:
“A new vision is needed for the sector – not one that just looks to development and delivery. They need to decide whether there is going to be a role for local associations, or are we going to become regional bodies? “Small associations can deliver good services and developments. There is a danger that, with the emphasis on delivery and having a small number of developers, the positive aspects of diversity will be lost.” Richard Clark, chief executive, Prime Focus:
“The critical priority is to secure the Housing Corporation investment role and get housing associations a role in all aspects of the Communities Plan in low-demand pathfinders. At the moment the corporation’s focus is very strongly on the growth areas and not sufficiently strong across the whole of the Communities Plan and regeneration agenda. It needs to bring this out. Tony Stacey, chief executive, South Yorkshire Housing Association:
“The new chair needs to restore some self-belief. The corporation’s influence has dropped: it lost Supporting People funding; it lost inspections; it lost approved development programme allocations. The corporation needs to re-establish its role. “The new chair needs to command the respect of housing associations, as well as English Partnerships and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.”

Source

Housing Today