Homes England has appointed former HM Prison and Probation Service boss Amy Rees as its next chief executive.
Rees will start work at the housing delivery agency, which is overseen by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, on 8 September.
She will succeed interim Homes England chief exec Eamonn Boylan, who has been in post since January this year following the retirement of predecessor Peter Denton. The recruitment campaign for the role offered a salary of up to £258,000 a year to the successful applicant.
Rees served as HMPPS chief executive from August 2022 until April this year, when she became interim permanent secretary at the Ministry of Justice following Dame Antonia Romeo’s move to the Home Office. Former MoJ second perm sec Jo Farrar was appointed to the top role in the department in June.
Homes England said that after leading one of the UK’s most complex public services, Rees would now apply her experience to driving delivery, accelerating transformation and implementing reform at the agency.
Rees will also oversee the launch of the government’s new National Housing Bank, which is expected to fund the construction of more than 500,000 new homes, backed with £53bn in private investment.
Deputy prime minister and housing secretary Angela Rayner said Rees’s appointment was a “momentous step” for Homes England that would see her leading efforts to “turn the tide on the housing crisis”.
“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,” Rayner said.
Delivering 1.5m new homes over the course of the current parliament was a Labour Party manifesto pledge for last year's general election. It will require ramping up delivery of new homes to levels not seen since the 1970s.
Rees described it as a “huge privilege” to join Homes England and lead work on delivering a “critical agenda” for the nation.
“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,” she said.
Rees started her career in the Prison Service and worked at several prisons before being appointed governor at HMP Brixton in 2008.
She later served as director general responsible for probation, Wales and youth, at HMPPS before becoming its chief exec.