Steve Douglas was appointed as Acting Chief Executive for the Housing Corporation. He will take up his position on 2 July, replacing the current Corporation Chief Executive, Jon Rouse, who leaves the Corporation at the end of June to take up his new role as Chief Executive of the London Borough of Croydon.
There will also be further changes to the Housing Corporation's executive management team:
Steve Douglas is currently Deputy Chief Executive for the Housing Corporation. He first joined the Corporation in April 2001 as the Director of Investment and Regeneration for London, and was appointed Field Director for London in September 2004 following a change in the Corporation's organisational structure. Prior to this, Steve was Chief Executive of ASRA Greater London Housing Association.
A CAB worker from Merseyside won a national award for campaigning for better rights for tenants of private landlords.
Debbie Crew, from Crosby and Formby Citizens Advice Bureau, was presented with the Sheila McKechnie Foundation charity award. She received her award from Chancellor Gordon Brown at a reception at 11 Downing Street. The awards are given to people who are seen as leading grassroots campaigners and professional campaigners, who are tipped to bring about future social change.
Debbie won the Consumer Action award, sponsored by Which, for campaigning for better rights for tenants of private landlords. She identified that tenants who seek to get decent levels of accommodation from their landlords sometimes face eviction in response to their requests.
Debbie has gathered evidence from a wide range of sources to document the nature and extent of the problem of retaliatory evictions and lobby for reform.
The Sheila McKechnie Foundation is a charity backed by patrons Gordon Brown, Jon Snow, and Lord Geoffrey Howe. It was formed in 2005 to 'fast-track' the most talented of future campaigners.
Debbie has worked at the Crosby CAB for just over five years. On receiving the award, Debbie said:
"I am extremely pleased to receive this award, which is proof of the huge impact that local Citizens Advice Bureaux[s] and their workers can make.
"I started looking into this because one of my clients was in such a difficult situation that it literally was keeping me awake at night. She has a serious illness and needs her landlord to make a change that would mean she could have central heating, which she desperately needs.
"He is unwilling to do so, and she is worried that complaining too much will lead to her being evicted.
"What I hope for most is that my work will lead to new legislation to end this culture of fear amongst tenants and stop landlords acting in this way."