Homes England selects prisons grandee as next CEO
Amy Rees is currently director general at the Ministry of Justice and will take over from interim chief executive Eamonn Boylan in September.
She will be charged with leading Homes England in supporting the government’s target of building 1.5m homes by the end of the parliament.
Rees will take over an agency armed with its most flexible funding arrangement for some time and an organisation that has, in recent years, fostered a place-based approach to regeneration, working particularly closely with combined authority areas.
Homes England’s incoming chief executive has no housing or development background and, up until this year when she joined the MoJ, had spent her entire career within HM Prison and Probation Service.
Between 2008 and 2010 she was governor at Brixton Prison. She has also been head of workforce strategy and head of delivery at HMPPS before being appointed as director general and chief executive in 2022 – a position she held for three years.
Rees said: “It is a huge privilege to join Homes England and lead those responsible for delivering such a critical agenda for our country.
“The housing crisis is one of the most urgent challenges facing our country, and I look forward to working closely with colleagues, government, industry, and communities to deliver the homes people need.”
Rees will take the reins from interim chief executive Eamonn Boylan on 8 September. Boylan took the job in January following the departure of Peter Denton.
Deputy prime minister and housing secretary Angela Rayner described Rees’s appointment as a “momentous step for Homes England”.
“I know Amy’s exceptional leadership and track record makes her the ideal choice as we work together to build 1.5m homes, deliver the biggest expansion in social and affordable housing in a generation, and raise living standards in every region across the country.”
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Can somebody please explain the rational behind this appointment ? In what way is this person qualified for the role ? Ah , but I forgot that we are dealing with politicians and the ” civil service ” . The Blob triumphs yet again , whilst we are left discarded and trampled upon . And holding the tab . Horrendous .
By Anonymous
What a shame Eamon cannot continue in the roIe. Easy to see why he is quaIified to do so – what experience and quaIifications this Iady has for the roIe is much Iess easy to understand!!!
By David SIeath
Baffling.
By Baffled
What a strange appointment. The Government’s delivery record for new prison capacity is a damning reflection of any UK Government to deliver any form of critical infrastructure at pace and scale. To put the current government’s number 1 priority to the person responsible for the lack of any prison reform is absolutely bonkers
By Anonymous
On the plus side, maybe she’ll be able to exert some pressure to help move Strangeways!
By Anonymous
Perhaps she’s been appointed as she can deal with the politicians and civil service and that’s where her qualification lies. I doubt she’s personally to blame for the underinvestment in prisons and prison reform, that lies with previous Government investment programmes.
By Anon
I have not doubts this individual is a top class civil servant but to appoint someone who has no housing, regeneration, place making and housing investment experience is genuinely perplexing. Eamonn has this in spades.
By Anonymous
Running prisons…. natural progression to volume house building.
But maybe she can help shift strangeways somewhere sensible
By Don cheglioni
As others alluded, it’s a strange appointment. Unless it is pre-determined, UK government style, that Manchester is to be allowed to offload its criminals and build on Strangeways.
Bring on the “consultation”.
By John
It’s time that Homes England is closed and its function and budget devolved to local Mayor’s. The bidding process for Homes England grant funding is longwinded, disconnected from local need and ultimately decided by the Homes England London office. It really is time that the regions stop having to go cap in hand to London for regeneration funding.
By Anonymous
We know how well the Prison service is operating (violence, rape, corruption, etc.) , and the Courts (year-long delay, cases cancelled, etc.) equally malfunctional. Who was responsible? Why not put them in charge of something completely different, like Housing? Sorry, its a proper stupid idea. I withdraw my suggestion.
By Anonymous
She obviously has a track record in organisational. The Spending Review gives Homes England a strong delivery mandate that the new chief exec can bolster by managing the proposed new regional delivery model.
By Anonymous