The white, male 50-year-olds in the top jobs will have to move on before there is real diversity. But how long will this take?
Our census has prompted even supporters of the Housing Corporation’s target of getting women into half the top jobs at registered social landlords by 2010 to admit that their goal looks unattainable.
The prospects for minority-ethnic representation in the upper echelons of the sector are even worse. So, when – if ever – can we expect to see a more diverse leadership emerging? By analysing the current ages of those in power, we can predict when they are due to retire and make room for new blood.
Taking associations first, just five people are aged 60 to 64 and due to retire before 2010. This will release just 69,615 units of stock – far fewer than the 589,827 units that needs to be under female control to meet Leadership 2010’s target.
Current female hopefuls will need to wait until 2020 before the largest group of chief executives, those aged 50 to 54, retire.
Only then could the total stock released from existing chief executives reach the 50% figure. Not all this stock will come under the leadership of women, of course.
If a Leadership 2010-style target were to be set for BME groups, it would probably aim for them to control 8% of the stock in the sector, reflecting the 7.9% BME people in the population. In theory, at least, this target could be achieved sooner: it would require 94,372 units to pass to BME hands, and this will be freed up by 2015.
At councils, the typical age is slightly younger than at RSLs, and it will be 2025 before enough people retire to free up half the stock (891,171 units). Again, these posts will not all go to women, so a more realistic target for 50% women would be after 2035, when more of today’s stock is released.
A BME target of 8% would also take longer to achieve than for RSLs – it will be at least 2020 before the 142,587 units needed are released.
The reason so few women and BME people became chief executives is that none of these positions came up
June Barnes, East Homes
Of course, it won’t be this straightforward – with housing constantly being built and demolished, the sector’s total stock will soon be quite different from our predictions. And retirements are often a trigger for mergers. All the signs are that this will happen more frequently as smaller associations find it harder to survive the government’s ruthless drive for efficiency and the push towards fewer, larger, associations.
On the other hand, more jobs will be created by stock option spin-offs from councils, who have until July to decide which option to take to meet the decent homes standard. Our tables indicate whether each council has an arm’s length management organisation or large-scale voluntary transfer and their plans for the future.
And our results suggest things may already be starting to change: the fact that average ages of women and BME groups tend to be younger than their mainstream counterparts, while they are responsible for at least as much stock, indicates that these groups are more heavily represented in the younger bands of leaders now coming through.
June Barnes, chief executive of East Homes, believes that when the white, male 50-somethings who now dominate leaders’ posts finally move on, the profile of housing’s leaders will really change. “The reason so few women and ethnic minorities have hit the chief executive position in the past was that none of these positions came up,” she says. “I am optimistic that a more diverse group of people will soon be running the associations.”
Councils have no targets yet for getting more women or people from ethnic minorities into their top housing jobs, but on the strength of our census, surely there should be?
As we have found, the absence of BME people holding power in council housing departments is even lower than in RSLs, and the proportion of women is almost the same. But if there was a target to change the profile of the sector by 2010, on retirement alone, it would not be met because just one head of housing will have retired by this time.
Get in Training
For ambitious housing workers from under-represented groups who want to rise to the top, there are specialist training courses which can help...
The course is aimed at chief executives, directors and senior managers working in both housing associations and council housing departments. It consists of three modules on “enhancing strategic leadership capability”, “negotiating, influencing and partnering” and
“market awareness and organisational performance”. For more information, email leadership@cih.org
- Jane Greenoak, who runs the NHF’s Leadership Steering Group, is meeting with the University of Lancaster next week to finalise plans for a 10-module course on leadership skills for housing workers who might aim to become chief executives in the next 10 years.
Greenoak says the sector has expanded so much recently that new leadership skills need to be taught to people of all backgrounds. The course will span 10 days of modules, and could be based anywhere in England.
“It will look at new types of leadership, such as things women are very good at, like partnership working and customer orientation. We’ll encourage chief executives to put forward black people and women and support them with the time to do course work,” says Greenoak.
For more information, email janeg@housing.org.uk
Yvonne Hutchinson, Age Concern
According to Housing Today's census, there’s not a huge number of top people lining up for their pensions, so we can’t rely on this as a way of getting new, more diverse blood into the system. Nevertheless, with housing association salaries for chief executives increasing quite markedly in the past few years, many can afford to retire a bit earlier.
Also, the sector is growing. There are more associations being formed all the time, which require new leaders.
Stock transfers could present more opportunities for women and BME people. There’s no reason why BME associations shouldn’t be recipients of some of the stock coming into the sector through transfer. That would be one way to increase the number of BME people in positions of leadership.
Sadly, there isn't enough movement in and out of the sector – when senior people leave, they often go to another association. We don't see that fresh talent coming through as much as we should. And employers have a natural tendency to take on people who are like themselves. Because most employers are white men, they tend to perpetuate the situation by only hiring white men.
If we made job adverts more attractive to people outside housing, it could open the door to more BME people or women. However, recruiting BME and women executive staff often requires a culture shift. Senior BME and women staff can have a difficult time managing people who resent having a black or female boss and some decide the promotion just isn’t worth the battle at the other end. This is a very live issue employers need to examine.
- Yvonne Hutchinson is director of community development consultancy, Community Chameleon
Source
Housing Today
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