Elly Hoult is on a mission: to get more people talking about housing and champion the industry as a rewarding and attractive career choice. Here, the Chief Operating Officer of housing association Peabody and newly-appointed President of the Chartered Institute of Housing talks to Housing View about the myths around construction, her thoughts on the new government, and her poor cooking skills
by Ben Wakeling
I start my conversation with Elly Hoult by apologising; it’s likely that I will ask her questions which she has answered several times already since she became President of the Chartered Institute of Housing five weeks ago.
But it’s not a problem, because an ongoing conversation about housing is at the heart of Elly’s campaign: to raise awareness of the sector, and specifically encourage young people to join an industry which has an ever-ageing workforce (ONS figures for 2019 showed that 55% of the construction workforce were aged 40 or over).
“The aim is not just to speak to ourselves about the roles in housing, but to create a campaign that goes beyond our own networks,” she says. “We’re working on how we might do that. We also want to support organisations with materials so they can go to their local areas and schools, and careers fairs. I think we have a duty to do this; we can’t wait for other people to do it. We can’t sit around and complain if we’re not out there doing it ourselves.”
We just aren’t very good at telling the story of housing, how brilliant it is and how much of a difference we can make.
Like many people, Elly fell into a career in the construction industry by accident. Career advice at school was unhelpful; after answering a set of standard questions and ticking some boxes the computer software told her she should be a chef (“Which is hilarious, because I’m not a very good cook.”).
Construction was (and is) rarely suggested to young people as a viable career opportunity. This is wrong, says Elly: she believes that housing should be “forefront and centre” of every conversation about potential career opportunities, and wonders if a lack of understanding about the wide range of roles in the industry is deterring people from joining.
After all, if you hear the word construction, you think high-vis, hard hats, working outside in poor weather; but there are so many career paths to explore within the sector that young people could actually find themselves spoilt for choice.
“People are always surprised when I speak to them about what we do; they’re always like: “Wow, I never knew that”. There’s a whole range of options, from surveyors to land, finance to sales.
“We just aren’t very good at telling the story of housing, how brilliant it is and how much of a difference we can make. The idea behind the campaign is to encourage more people from different backgrounds into the industry. We need to start creating that pipeline.”
I try to throw a spanner in the works. Why would a young person choose to work in an industry where there is a risk of injury on site, and which currently has a terrible mental health record?
For the same reason that somebody would choose to work in the NHS, responds Elly. (She has first-hand experience of the stresses and strains of working in the healthcare sector: her father is a retired paramedic, her sister is a social worker, and her brother is a nurse.) They do it because of the job satisfaction, the pride in helping others, and she firmly believes that this is also what drives most people in the construction industry.
“You’re part of a group of people who are changing the way the UK looks, changing the landscape. I went to a scheme that we did at Peabody, and it nearly brought me to tears, because it was an affordable housing development and the standard was staggering. I felt so proud that people have been given homes they can afford, proud that I worked for that organisation.
“I think that’s what we should be talking about: we are creating beautiful homes for people where they can thrive. Every sector has its challenges, and there’s a role for us to deal with those challenges, but we should talk about the opportunities. The problem is we focus a lot on the things that can go wrong, but actually, when you think about it, it’s quite an amazing thing that we do.”
I think we have a duty to do this; we can’t wait for other people to do it. We can’t sit around and complain if we’re not out there doing it ourselves.
This is not a politically-charged piece, but it would be remiss of me not to ask Elly’s opinion on how the new Labour government is performing. “I’m really excited that we’ve got a new administration, and I think they’re doing a great job,” she says. “They are a government that is listening, and I think that’s really important. There’s a dialogue, a conversation, an opportunity to work together.”
And the country has a Housing Secretary in Angela Rayner who, like Elly, has lived experience of social housing. “I don’t envy her the task, but I think it’s brilliant that she can bring her own personal experience to this senior role.”
So, finally: what does success look like a year from now, when Elly’s presidency is over?
“I think there’s two things,” she responds. “One, it’s really important that choosing housing has gone beyond just us talking to ourselves in our own sector; there are people outside our circles having conversations about housing, and that’s a starting point.
“The second thing is for me to have done enough to be built upon, because we’re never going to crack this in a year. It has to be ongoing. If I achieve those two things, then I’ll be really pleased.”
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