Housing's Next Generation final

After several gruelling rounds of blogs, presentations and live addresses to delegates at HQN’s annual conference, Tom Leon-Grimes of Orbit Group was crowned winner of this year’s competition. We sat down with the winner, and the other finalists, to see how they found the competition.

Tom Leon-Grimes, 25

Service Development Manager, Orbit Group

Tom’s presentation in the final saw him take on the role of housing minister, outlining what he’d do were he in charge. He called for an extension to the empty homes and Housing First funding pots, saying this would significantly help the country get to building 300,000 homes per year. Tom committed to bringing through the Social Housing Regulation Bill, saying it would ensure safety and disrepair was top of the agenda. He also set out that he would scrap the proposed Right to Buy for housing associations.

On his presentation, he said: “What I aimed for senior housing leaders to gain from this speech was recognition of these top issues across the sector, and to hear some of my ideas about how we can tackle them, of which I offered at least two solutions to each problem.

“These are obviously fictional solutions (because it was part of this competition) but I do believe that asking different people’s thoughts around these issues can open up the opportunity for some great, new and radical ideas – which is why getting more young people in to leadership positions is such a fundamental move.”

Tom also said he would recommend organisations nominating their young housing professionals next year, saying that the competition “offered me the opportunity to: push me out of my comfort zone; research the wider housing sector and increase my knowledge; think of potential solutions and how they could be funded; articulate ideas better; and it developed my leadership skills more, so I can aim for that kind of position in the future.”

Hanifa Blakemore-Raqaz

Youth Project Manager, Clarion Futures

Hanifa’s final presentation focused on the need to engage better with young people and built on her semifinal presentation that called for a Youth Charter.

She said the sector should take a “youth-led joined up approach” which would put young people at the heart of decision-making, as well as looking strategically at mental health, youth homelessness and employment.

Her vision for achieving this included recruiting young peer researchers and working with housing association youth networks, while also creating a housing and financial education working group.

Hanifa wanted to show “the importance of using Youth Voice to shape the future of the sector”.

And on the competition as a whole, she was full of praise: “It was a great opportunity to network, hear about the work other colleagues in different HAs are doing and gain brilliant experience presenting.”

She added that she “gained lots of experience presenting to large audiences, and answering questions on the spot”.

Gemma Brook

Project Surveyor & Retrofit Coordinator, Orbit Group

Focusing on the climate emergency and energy crisis as how to shape the future of housing, Gemma used her presentation to put forward some passionate ideas about helping residents with the cost-of-living crisis while also positively contributing to the climate agenda.

She said she’d reduce social housing rents by 1% each year but allow housing associations and local authorities to claim this money back in “decarbonisation cashback” if they put energy efficiency measures in place.

Reflecting on the competition, Gemma said it had “allowed me to meet and engage with other young professionals in social housing, hear different views from various areas of the sector and the chance to network with a wealth of sector professionals. The competition has also helped develop my confidence in presenting.”

She said it was “a great opportunity for the young professional to network in the sector and open their minds to new concepts and ideas which can then be fed back to their own organisation” as well as being great to be recognised within the business.

Kemba Mitchell

Project Coordinator, South Yorkshire Housing Association

Looking at tackling climate, supply and affordability, quality and safety — Kemba used her presentation to call for a systems overhaul, saying the issues stem from a “profits at all costs” approach.

She called for better definitions of “a net zero home” as well as creating supply chains that would allow scaling up, developers paying for safety defects through a levy and implementation of the renters reform bill.

She said it’s important these changes allow “tenants to have the power to drive these conversations”.

Kemba said she wanted to “challenge senior housing leaders to think holistically about what we can do to resolve these problems and encourage them to be more radical.

Calling the competition a “really valuable experience”, she added it was “brilliant to have the opportunity to reflect on the sector as a whole”.

On why she would encourage organisations to put people forward for next year, Kemba commented: “It’s very rare that you find a platform specifically for people who are early in their career. This is a great opportunity to celebrate the young people in your organisations and give them space to explore sector wide issues.”

Gift Ngubane

Employment Support Advisor, Abri Group

Looking at how to help the country on an array of housing issues, Gift used his final presentation to talk about affordability, availability, climate and homelessness.

He called for rent regulation in parts of the market, as well as increased transparency and regulation to ensure that landlords aren’t taking advantage of “desperate tenants”.

On the competition, Gift said: “It took me out of my comfort zone because presenting to CEOs and senior managers in the housing sector wasn’t something I was accustomed to, but it’s one of the best things that I’ve done in my career. Now I feel more confident putting my ideas forward as it’s given me validation that my ideas are not just important to me.”

He added that he’d put young people forward for this competition as “it’s an opportunity for them to express their ideas, listen to peers and to develop professionally”.

If you’d like to put someone forward for Housing’s Next Generation in 2023, look out for nomination links in February.