Five minutes with: Pat Ritchie

Pat Ritchie took the helm at the Housing and Communities Agency at the end of 2010 and is charged with steering it through its greatest period of change. What are the big challenges facing the HCA in the coming year? As with all other organisations in the public sector, the key challenge is to continue to deliver on our existing programmes whilst at the same time developing new programmes. The organisation is changing to take on a role based around enabling and investment so we have to manage this, take on new responsibilities and make sure we deliver on our current programmes. You've just moved into the position of chief executive. Can you tell us a little about your role? My role is really to lead the organisation through the coming changes, and ensure that manage the process successfully while building on the strength of the staff. I've had quite a bit of experience taking organisations through periods of change but this is more significant than most. In your experience, what are the key things managers must do during an organisational restructure? It's imperative that you ensure that you have a strong line of communications with your staff, that you're clear about the new purpose of the organisation and what that means for people within it. You need to work through what the change will mean for your staff with them, so they can see the whole process. It's also important to be very clear with partners about the future role of the organisation and how it will work with them and how the changes happening will ensure that your organisation is fit for purpose in the future. A lot of it is about clarity, communications and setting a clear path both externally and internally. Can you tell us a bit more about the HCA's new role? The HCA has a clarity about it's new role: we're an enabling and investing agency. Really, we're the people you talk to to get things done. So we'll be working with local authorities to help with housing and regeneration. On the investment side, we have three investment streams, including the new affordable rent programme. We'll also be continuing our decent homes programme and playing a strong role in regeneration. In our enabling role we'll be working with local authorities to look at how they put forward commercial propositions for regeneration and how they use their land assets. Plus, how they support housing renewal and investment. Our involvement might be money, or it might be guidance on the new homes bonus, but we want our enabling and investing role to come together to support delivery of local priorities. What are the key issues you'll be facing? For us, the key risks for the sector are the amount of change that there is within housing and regeneration. Housing and regeneration organisations need to be geared to deliver the scale of change. How did you come to be chief executive of the HCA? My background is in economic development and I came to this job from being involved in area-based regeneration. I've also worked with a regional development agency in the north-east, and more generally have always been interested in how you help local communities achieve their aspirations – whether that's economic development, housing or regeneration. Most recently I set up the HCA in the north-east, establishing a new team to work with these sectors. I also led on organisational change with The Wise Group , so I've had experience of managing an institution through a period of change, which seemed particularly relevant to this role. You've talked about advising local authorities on the new homes bonus. One of the big debates for the sector is how to avoid 'nimbyism'. What would you suggest? Local authorities and housing associations have always worked in a way where the most important driver is the outcome for the community. Targets have always come second to this. Most associations are very focused on delivering for the communities where they work, for example through supporting tenants in services and employment as well as providing new housing. The government focus on localism and communities deciding investment is actually consistent with the approach that housing associations have already focused on. What are the particular challenges for housing associations in the coming year? I think the big ones will be the change in policy landscape, challenges around new programmes and the scale of change across the sector. Those housing associations who have anticipated that change are the ones best equipped to deal with it. We need to build on the established strong relationships between local authorities, housing associations, the HCA and other partners. The HCA was actually set up in a challenging housing market, we saw the sector rise to the challenge of that market and I'll expect the sector to behave in the same way now. What one piece of advice would you give managers in the sector? To continue to work in an innovative way, continue to be pragmatic and find ways to keep development going. And of course work with the HCA to develop new programmes. This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional. Join the housing network to receive more like this direct to your inbox.