The UK professional body for people who work in housing, a charity with its headquarters in Coventry and offices in London, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast.
The Chartered Institute of Housing, or CIH, is the professional body for people who work in housing in the UK. That includes people working for councils, housing associations and private landlords, and in fields such as tenant services, repairs, homelessness advice, rents and housing policy. Its work includes education, with qualifications, training courses, apprenticeships, study centres and the CIH Housing Academy, professional standards including a code of ethics and conduct, events and conferences, policy influence and campaigns, and resources such as a Knowledge Hub, publications and podcasts. It says it is also the independent voice for housing.
CIH describes its purpose as "inspiring, equipping and supporting housing professionals to create a future in which everyone has a place to call home". It received a royal charter in 1984, and is a registered charity in England and Wales and in Scotland. Its roots go back further: the Institute of Housing was founded in 1931 by West Midlands local government officers, and the organisation traces its origins to the 19th-century housing management work of Octavia Hill. It took its current name in 1994. Wikipedia reports more than 17,000 members, while CIH says its members work in 20 countries on five continents.
The headquarters is in Coventry in the West Midlands, according to Wikipedia, with smaller offices in London, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast, which reflects the different housing systems in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. It has also had overseas offices in Hong Kong and Toronto. CIH's own page we read did not list addresses, so the office list is third-party. Its annual Housing Community Summit has been held each September with the National Housing Federation, a link between the professional body and the landlords who employ its members.
As a charity, CIH reinvests any surplus in its work for the housing sector. Its equality, diversity and inclusion commitments are stated on its site, and it names a code of ethics for members. We did not find staff headcount or independent reviews of working there. The organisation is led by a chief executive, who Wikipedia names as Gavin Smart, so check that this is still the case.
Roles at CIH include trainers and tutors, qualification and assessment staff, policy and research officers, event and communications teams, membership and customer service, and finance, technology and people support. Many staff have worked in housing before, but the organisation also needs people with skills in learning design, writing and data. If you care about fairness, communities and how people find a secure home, a professional body like this offers a way to work on that without being a housing officer.
Website: www.cih.org
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