ISHSUM

the International Social Housing summit

This event has an array of well-credentialled, international experts on panels. The speakers are very good.

It is UK dominated and mostly about generic social housing, but it is still relevant and provocative.

It's a bit like "welcome to our world" with the Europeans moving into an environment where they won't get government grants or massive rent assistance to underpin social housing.

It's clear that the equation is fairly simple here, that there are no magic bullets and that we are not incompetent.

The simple equation is that if people can't afford housing on the open market, then someone subsidises it. In the UK, it has been the welfare state and in our micro setting, it is our organisations that have provided that subsidy through making surpluses elsewhere. Our ability to do this has been severely compromised in recent years through inadequate funding of residential care and hey presto we are in trouble providing more "mission housing".

It's been useful to be part of a process of looking at how you can improve the equation. For example, through lower building costs and through mutual or maybe collective approaches to accessing funds at lower interest rates. I was rather interested in the Housing Finance Corporation in the UK and Glenn is dusting off his previous banking experience. Maybe ACSWA/ACSA could broker a collective debt proposition to lenders?

Learnt a great new acronym today. BANANAs. Build absolutely nothing anywhere near anyone.

Another theme crystallising in our minds is - avoid the system. Find your own way - avoid Departments of Housing, delicense residential care beds and find different ways of bringing them to market.

Saw Hans Becker, the former head of Humanitas yesterday. An eccentric to say the least and a total individualist - "I" did everything not "we". But, I love these outrageous characters and we have to give them credit for bucking the system and driving change. What he did reminds me of Nunzio Gumina breaking the mould and putting tables and chairs out on the footpath for the first time in once boring Freo. Hans has just retired and become the Chairman. Rest assured, or curse your bad luck - none of the three of us will be applying for the job of CEO at Humanitas with Hans still there as Chair. We are visiting Humanitas tomorrow as just a threesome and we are looking forward to this.

Hotel update - the lifts broke down this morning. Not a problem - only 8 floors. Last night, the waiter poured the entire bottle of wine into the first 3 glasses leaving none for the fourth person in our group. Basil F is alive and well in Den Haag.

Ray