Image: Circle VHA
“I had no idea how different working in social housing in Ireland was going to be”
Chris Ellison reflects on 15 years at Circle VHA and how his experience differed to working in social housing in the UK
PEOPLE & CULTURE
Chris Ellison
Independent member, Tenant First Link Committee, Circle Voluntary Housing Association
Chris Ellison
Independent member, Tenant First Link Committee, Circle Voluntary Housing Association
Issue 74 | October 2024
In July 2024 I stepped down as Chair of Dublin-based Circle Voluntary Housing Association (CVHA) after nearly 15 years of being involved with social housing in Ireland, with board roles ranging from member to committee chair and finally to Chair of CVHA.
I never intended to stay that long. I was thinking three years, but the fact that it was SO different from the day job working in social housing in England – the people; the need; the challenges and changes (plus a love of the Guinness) – kept me there.
Chris Ellison (centre) with new Chair of Circle's board Eileen Patterson and CEO John Hannigan
The early days
It all came about because Circle Housing England was involved in the early days of CVHA through seed funding and knowledge share. Campbell Tickell’s own Dave Williams was there at the beginning. Part of the arrangement was for a senior leader from Circle to sit on CVHA’s board to continue that knowledge-share. Well, I was in a small meeting of Circle leaders one day, and ‘volunteered’ for the CVHA board role.
Of course, I am so grateful I did, but I had no idea how different working in social housing in Ireland was going to be. History, size, lack of consolidation and no regulation are the obvious differences, but I wouldn’t say they are necessarily the fundamental ones.
The difference that struck me most in those early days is the obvious one. Ireland is another European country and Dublin looks more like another European city than a UK one. The language may be similar, but otherwise it looks to European business, economy, policy, and politics with a glance to the UK. So it was more like working in Berlin. This was brought home to me in 2010 when I was first over just after the election and a change of government that brought David Cameron in as UK Prime Minister. Dominating Irish media was the visit of Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany – nothing on the UK’s end of an era for one administration and the start of another.
Chris Ellison (centre) with new Chair of Circle's board Eileen Patterson and CEO John Hannigan
The early days
It all came about because Circle Housing England was involved in the early days of CVHA through seed funding and knowledge share. Campbell Tickell’s own Dave Williams was there at the beginning. Part of the arrangement was for a senior leader from Circle to sit on CVHA’s board to continue that knowledge-share. Well, I was in a small meeting of Circle leaders one day, and ‘volunteered’ for the CVHA board role.
Of course, I am so grateful I did, but I had no idea how different working in social housing in Ireland was going to be. History, size, lack of consolidation and no regulation are the obvious differences, but I wouldn’t say they are necessarily the fundamental ones.
The difference that struck me most in those early days is the obvious one. Ireland is another European country and Dublin looks more like another European city than a UK one. The language may be similar, but otherwise it looks to European business, economy, policy, and politics with a glance to the UK. So it was more like working in Berlin. This was brought home to me in 2010 when I was first over just after the election and a change of government that brought David Cameron in as UK Prime Minister. Dominating Irish media was the visit of Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany – nothing on the UK’s end of an era for one administration and the start of another.
Lack of regulation
The lack of regulation or legislation around building and customer safety is almost certainly a contributing factor to the very different practice in Ireland compared to the UK. I found the absence of reporting and governance alarming.
Gas safety had been rightly drummed into me since the early 2000s and flowed into the UK sector developing its ‘compliance big six’, further compounded by the tragedies of Lakenhall and Grenfell. It was an agenda I pushed to the board, sometimes on my own.
Notably tragedy and improved risk management has brought it to the surface now, but there is still a lot of learning in this area that UK professionals can share with their Irish counterparts.
Having said all of that, regulation of AHBs was introduced in 2013 and has been statutory since 2022. The regulator (AHBRA) operates four standards:
- governance of AHBs;
- financial management and reporting;
- property and asset management;
- tenancy management.
“There is still a lot of learning in this area that UK professionals can share with their Irish counterparts.”
Circle VHA Cost Rental homes at Lanestown View, Donabate
Economic shifts
Economic and housing cycles in the UK are less predictable now than they used to be, but that’s nothing compared to Ireland. Again, in my early days as a board member, it hit me hard in the face as the Celtic Tiger (Ireland’s economy from the mid-1990s to the late 2000s) came to an abrupt end, causing housing growth to fall by 90% from it’s peak a few years earlier. Access to and the cost of capital fell off a cliff, while demand rapidly increased.
In my later years I was to see a further material shift in demand for social housing. While it feels like the UK has been in a housing ‘crisis’ for 20 years and the nature of that demand has changed very little, Dublin’s role in global business means I have seen demand change, especially in the Dublin area, from three-bedroom houses with gardens to one- and two-bedroom flats.
In addition, Ireland has welcomed migration and the changing profile of the population and their housing needs has led the Irish social housing sector to look at different models to meet those needs.
“There is an inherent trust, warmth, and shared sense of purpose to social housing business in Ireland. I loved it.”
People power
Finally, the people. This is probably the single biggest factor that has kept me involved, not only CVHA’s residents, their approach to community and the gracious way they interact with the organisation, but also my colleagues and the way they do business. Notably, after I started chairing meetings, I had to remind myself that the start time on the agenda was not the start of business, but the time when people caught up with old friends, talked politics, marriages, sport, history, whatever – business came later. There is an inherent trust, warmth, and shared sense of purpose to social housing business in Ireland.
I loved it.
So much so that I couldn’t go cold turkey and have stayed involved as an independent committee member on the tenants’ shadow board, the legacy I wanted to leave behind.
It’s always been about ‘making a difference’ for me. While the differences in social housing in Ireland and the UK are vast, the need to fulfil Maslow’s hierarchy of needs remains the same no matter who, or where, you are.
Circle CEO John Hannigan with Cost Rental tenant Indra Drone outside her new home in Lanestown View, Donabate
