Who leads the housing service?
Contents:
1. Director for Housing and Health - Catrin Stark
2. Assistant Director for Regulatory Housing Services - Andy King
3. Assistant Director for Statutory Housing Services - Emma Congerton
4. Assistant Director for Programmes, Investment and Development - Liam Reading
1. Director for Housing and Health - Catrin Stark
Hi, I’m Catrin and I am responsible for all Housing and Environmental Health services at East Devon District Council. Working with my great team of Assistant Directors, I’m passionate about placing people at the heart of everything we do and championing the voice of our customers, ensuring it’s heard at all levels of the organisation. I’m driven by wanting to improve our services so that everyone in East Devon can live safely, feel empowered to contribute to their communities, and enjoy life to the fullest.
It’s a great period of change for us across a number of services at the moment, and I am proud to be leading a fantastic team of people committed to improvement. We know we have further to go, and things to work on, but together with our customers, we feel able to make those changes for lasting impact.
2. Assistant Director for Regulatory Housing Services - Andy King
Hi, I’m Andy and I oversee our Tenancy Services and Housing Property and Asset Teams here at East Devon District Council. Together, we are responsible for managing your tenancies, supporting our Sheltered Housing residents, carrying out repairs and maintenance in your homes, and supporting community development, tenant engagement and scrutiny. I'm also responsible for ensuring compliance with the consumer standards in our council.
I have worked in the social housing sector for all of my career, and I am passionate about the provision of good quality, affordable housing in thriving communities. I am really proud to be working in East Devon and being part of the ongoing journey to transform our housing services and what’s on offer to the residents of East Devon.
3. Assistant Director for Statutory Housing Services - Emma Congerton
Hi, I’m Emma and I’m responsible for a number of services aimed at supporting vulnerable people with their housing and support needs. My teams provide support to homeless individuals and families or those at risk of losing their homes, maintain the housing register (via Devon Home Choice), and allocate available social properties to those most in need. We also support vulnerable residents by monitoring their in-home care alarms and help refugees who have arrived under one of the government schemes to settle in the UK.
I am passionate about improving services for our communities. Currently, we are working on several projects, including providing new digital care alarms for our Home Safeguard customers and developing services for single homeless people to better support their needs. Our new housing strategy will set out our priorities and actions over the next five years to better support our communities with their housing needs.
4. Assistant Director for Programmes, Investment and Development - Liam Reading
Hi, I’m Liam and I lead the Programmes, Investment, and Development Team at East Devon District Council. I look after our longer-term financial and operational plans, overseeing how we invest in our housing stock and ensuring our homes are fit for the future.
Part of my role is to help make sure there are enough affordable homes in East Devon, both to rent and to buy. My team does this by working with housing providers and developers, as well as by developing our own plans to build and buy new affordable homes that will be owned and managed by the council. I’m passionate about ensuring that people in East Devon have access to safe, good-quality, and affordable homes now and for years to come.