Optimising leadership
Case study Head of Locality
Rishi Spolia
Head of Locality
My passion for social housing was
bolstered whilst studying Ernest
Burgess model for my Geography
dissertation.
He highlighted that a city develops in
concentric circles with the city centre at its
core. Burgess found that as you move out
from the centre the social, economic and
physical opportunities improve, including
housing but also the population gets
whiter! I was fascinated that closer to the
core of the city housing was of a poorer
quality, unemployment was higher but the
communities were less white and mainly
ethnic minorities. I knew then that housing
was the profession I wanted to work in to
enable families become the best they can be
and improve their life chances.
After graduating I saw an advert for a PATH
trainee at Accord. PATH stood for Positive
Action Trainee in Housing and was introduced
to address the imbalance of opportunity of
ethnic minorities to get into the profession.
Traditionally employers recruited applicants
with experience so this was my chance and I
could not let it pass me by! I had to get this
role and I did!
My traineeship involved a producing a
portfolio by rotating time in different teams
to understand how the different cogs of
the organisation worked. I spent six years
learning the housing officer role and then was
successful in getting a role as a team leader
at the Wrekin Housing Trust. I then moved to
Bromford Housing Association and continued
to progress in the organisation, volunteering
for tasks to further my personal development.
Two years ago I was delighted to see an advert
for a Head of Locality position at Accord and
return to where my journey began. It was a
strategic role and I would be able to draw
on all my training and experience to now
shape the services that were being delivered.
The role was based in areas predominantly
occupied by ethnic minority customers.
Those inequalities I had researched in my
dissertation I was now able to address and
positively change by developing partnerships
and stakeholder involvement. Externally I have
chaired the West Midlands regional board of
the Chartered Institute of Housing, presented
at national conferences and had lunch with
the housing minister! Note to oneself - If an
opportunity comes your way you need to take
it with both hands and not look back, as you
do not know where it may end!
...I was fascinated that
closer to the core of the city
housing was of a poorer
quality, unemployment was
higher...
Rishi Spolia
Head of Locality
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