One Year at ARK: How Professional Curiosity Drives Culture Change in Social Housing

By Kirsty Wells · 8 August 2025

My career at ARK follows the same timeline as the Labour Government at Westminster – our first Monday in the job was 8^th July 2024.

At the end of that first month, I wrote a blog about change and all the ‘C’ words that were being talked about in the sector at the time such as consumer regulation, compliance, complaints, culture, community and change.

The housing sector, particularly in England, anticipated change and long awaited action following Grenfell from the new government. Even though we hoped for investment and government commitment, none of us dared to be brave enough to imagine that those hopes would become reality.

A year into the job the government announced its programme to deliver a decade of renewal for social and affordable housing and in the same week the Scottish Government appointed a new Cabinet Secretary for Housing, making this a standalone cabinet position for the first time. The narrative and stories from sector bodies such as NHF and CIH had been heard and listened to closely by serving Cabinet Ministers.

All these announcements and renewed focus on the need for social and affordable housing for people and communities are long overdue and if, like me, you’ve been employed in the sector for a long time, then we can be justified in retaining some doubts about the success of policy announcements.

Success needs action, it needs commitment, it needs determination, it needs vision, it needs investment, and it needs to stand up and stamp all over barriers and challenges. It needs housing professionals who care passionately about improving outcomes for tenants, residents, applicants and their colleagues. It also needs housing professionals committed to personal development, committed to serve with empathy, who are competent and conduct themselves with appropriate behaviours.

This is underpinned by two statements which have guided my first year at ARK, both made in the televised coverage of the Grenfell Inquiry, but not widely reported because they weren’t made by the Chair of the Inquiry.  These are:

I chose to work in the social housing sector. I did not fall into it by accident. It was a very deliberate choice and these two statements symbolise what I believe in passionately – putting residents at the heart of what we do, with understanding and respect and empowering staff to be curious and competent within the right culture and with the right behaviours.

The golden thread from the governing bodies of organisations through their staff teams to tenants and residents needs to be strong enough to provide clarity about expectations of culture and behaviours. It must also ensure that the voices and opinions of residents are channelled into all levels of staff within organisations so that they are heard, listened to and acted upon.

I feel privileged that in my first 12 months in ARK, through our culture review projects and our resident engagement projects I’ve been able to work with landlords and their residents to improve operational delivery and the outcomes for customers and employees.

I love what I do and am excited about future opportunities that I can get involved in and in the words of Maya Angelou am grateful for how people make me feel every day I am a member of the ARK team.

This focus on professional curiosity and cultural transformation is central to effective housing management. Kirsty will be exploring these themes further in our upcoming culture webinar, where she’ll chair discussions on how housing professionals can develop the right mindset and behaviours to serve residents effectively.