It was all change at the latest meeting of the ARCH Tenant Group
as Tenant Group members bid farewell to Gez Kinsella as the Tenant
Group Facilitator and welcomed his replacement, Richard Walker.
The ARCH Tenant Group met (virtually) for their June meeting on
21 June and alongside their normal business they said a fond
farewell to Gez Kinsella the ARCH Tenant Group Facilitator who has
served the Group well, providing advice and assistance to support
the Group over the last few years. Gez is leaving to pursue a
political career having been elected to his local council,
Derbyshire County Council, in May this year.
Tenant Group members were introduced to Richard Walker who is
taking over Gez' role as Tenant Group Facilitator with immediate
effect.
Richard brings a wealth of experience to the role. He is an
experienced housing professional having worked with Local
Authorities, ALMOs and Housing Associations and the Housing
Ombudsman Service for over 20 years. He has extensive expertise in
both delivery of housing services and providing service improvement
consultancy. He is passionate about the housing sector, driving
improvements in performance, efficiency and service experience and
his key areas of expertise include service transformation,
co-design, and customer experience.
He is outcome and results driven, working collaboratively with
people to establish positive working relationships. He has worked
at both an operational and strategic level in a variety of roles,
including Director of Housing and Deputy Chief Executive for a
large ALMO.
He is passionate about ensuring tenants and residents are
influential in the design, delivery, and monitoring of housing
services and as a consultant and trainer, has delivered numerous
projects supporting this passion. He is an accredited Customer
Service Excellence assessor and has worked with organisations such
as TPAS, to help organisations improve their approach to resident
engagement and influence.
Outside of work, Richard lives in Yorkshire with his wife and
two children. He enjoys walking, cycling, volunteering with his
son's junior football club and is a long-suffering Sheffield
Wednesday season ticket holder - but we won't hold that against
him!
ARCH Tenant Group Chair Jenny Hill said:
"We are sorry to see Gez go but wish him well in his new
career as a local councillor serving his local community. We have
all very much enjoyed working with Gez over the last few years and
have benefitted from his enthusiasm and commitment to tenant
involvement."
"We look forward to working with Richard. The proposals in
the Social Housing White Paper will give tenants and residents a
greater voice in how their local housing services are run and we
look forward to working with Richard to ensure that tenants and
residents of ARCH member councils can make the most of the
opportunities for greater tenant involvement, he brings a great
deal of experience and expertise to the table to support the ARCH
Tenant Group."