Thursday 21st December 2023
It’s beginning to look…
Back on here sooner than I thought — the week’s absolutely flown by and in true Christmas ‘silly season’ fashion, not everything has gone according to plan. To close off my posts for the year, I thought I’d do a quick rundown of it, highlighting some of the trials and tribulations I’ve had along the way…all in good spirits!
I won’t be the first (or the last) to go on about how difficult this year: 2023, has been (economically, politically, geo-politically, personally, et al.). In fact, it doesn’t really feel like we’ve had much good news this year at all. There’s certainly a distinction to be made between ‘optimism’ and ‘hope’…the latter notwithstanding, the feelings of heading into 2020 from 2019 still haven’t fully recovered. I can honestly say that waking up almost every morning this year to less than good news has been truly exhausting. And yet I’m still hopeful that things will get better next year.
Professionally speaking, this year has been sewn with tumult. I switched out (mostly) from Hancock Investment Partners, finding a better and more attuned focus for doing my ‘good’ and putting my money where my mouth is, rather than acting as a consultant to others. After nearly 18 months in the social care world, I think I’m finally finding my feet, and in a way that makes sense both as a commercial endeavour, and one that satisfies my desires to meet our housing challenges head on, without the complacency one might often find (inadvertently) sitting on the side lines. I’m trying to do and be better every day.
Some particular highlights:
- Being invited to the Supported Housing Strategic Review with Cornwall Council — with Cornwall now as my new home;
- Completing/opening my first service in Leeds as part of a transaction solution;
- Securing a cameo in The Daily Express as an ‘expert’ on all things Mortgages and Housing market (which I am not).
Despite all of the challenges, the reason I do what I do is find and create homes for people that need them. In the past 12 months I’ve found homes for 34 people who didn’t have one this time last year. I was hoping there would be another 18 to add to that list, owing to a completion which didn’t, earlier this week, but I’m hopeful this will roll onto next year and secure a good outcome for all involved.
Next year’s development and asset management pipeline is already looking busy, and I’m excited to see what 2024 brings — potentially an improvement on outcomes for a few more people (especially if the LPA are kind). I’m truly grateful for the people I’ve met this year, especially those over the past few months with a shared vision for doing the right thing.
I’m off for a few days now for the Christmas break — tired!
