Geraldine Howley
Incommunities Group Chief Executive, Geraldine
Howley attended Bradford College in 1977 to
complete an A Level course.
Despite spending only a short time completing the
course at the college it had an important part to
play in her career in housing.
“I really enjoyed my time at Bradford
College and I like to think it contributed to my early
career. It certainly helped me get on the ladder to
achieve further qualifications. “I joined Bradford Council as a housing receptionist
in 1977 and from there moved up the career ladder
becoming the authority’s City Housing Officer in
1997 and then taking over as Director of Housing.
In 2003, I was delighted to be appointed the Chief
Executive of Bradford Community Housing Trust
Group – the new organisation set up to take over
the Council’s 24,000 homes in one of the country’s
biggest stock transfers.
Over the last five years, I’m proud to have overseen
a £175 million improvement programme to
thousands of tenants’ homes to bring them up
to the Bradford Standard – a level in excess of
the Government’s Decent Homes Standard. The
organisation has also made significant service
improvements.
In June 2008, BCHT was renamed and rebranded ‘Incommunities’ to reflect the organisation is
changing and is no longer just a social housing
landlord but provides a breadth of other important
local services. It is very important to me we put
communities and people at the heart of everything
we do and this is why we chose ‘Incommunities’ as
our new name.
I am also proud to hold a number of key local
positions including being Chair of Bradford Housing
Partnership, being a Local Strategic Partnership
Board Member and a member of Bradford Property
Forum.
Academically, I have a BA Hons in Housing, I’m
a fully qualified professional MRICS Chartered
Surveyor and hold the Chartered Institute of
Housing professional qualification.
As a born and bred Bradfordian I’m passionate
about the district and believe Bradford College
is not just an important centre of learning but a
centre of the whole community.”
Photograph supplied by Incommunities