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New housing minister appointed as Raab takes top Brexit job

A chartered accountant and former board member of a London ALMO has been confirmed as the new minister of state for housing.

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Kit Malthouse MP
Kit Malthouse MP

Kit Malthouse has taken up the role after Dominic Raab was announced today as the new ‘Brexit’ secretary, following the resignation of David Davis.


The news of the departure of Mr Davis – and his number two Steve Baker – from the department for exiting the EU was followed this afternoon by the resignation of Boris Johnson as foreign secretary.


Mr Raab had been been housing minister for just six months, having been appointed in January 2018 as the department was renamed to include housing in its title. Previous housing minister, Alok Sharma, was in the role for just seven months before leaving for the Department for Work and Pensions.

 

In a statement, Mr Malthouse said:“Building the homes this country needs is a top priority for this government. I am keen to build on the real progress that has been made and start working with the sector so we can deliver more homes, restore the dream of home ownership and build a housing market fit for the future.

 

“I’m also committed to continuing the important work of supporting those affected by the Grenfell Tower tragedy and ensuring people are safe, and feel safe in their homes.”

 

Before his appointment, Mr Malthouse was parliamentary under-secretary of state for family support, housing and child maintenance at the Department for Work and Pensions from January 2018 to this week.


The new minister – who is the eighth housing minister since 2010 – was a councillor on Westminster City Council from 1998 to 2006 and was also on the board of the authority’s arm’s-length management organisation (ALMO), Citywest Homes, from January 2006 to May 2007.


Citywest launched as an ALMO in 2002 to deliver the Decent Homes Programme and now provides housing services for more than 12,000 social housing tenants and 9,000 leaseholders in central London, on behalf of the council.


Mr Malthouse is a chartered accountant and founded a Midlands-based finance company – called County Finance Group – which he now chairs. The company specialises in asset finance, including leasing financing, as well as practice finance to professional services such as doctors, law firms and accountancy firms.

 

He was a member of the London Assembly from 2008 to 2016. Mr Malthouse served as deputy mayor for policing from 2008 to 2012 and deputy mayor for business and enterprise from 2012 to 2015.


He was elected as Conservative MP for North West Hampshire in May 2015.


In April, James Brokenshire was named housing secretary after Sajid Javid became Amber Rudd’s successor as home secretary.


That followed Ms Rudd’s resignation over her handling of the Windrush scandal.


The sector is awaiting the publication of the Social Housing Green Paper, which Mr Raab had said was due this month.

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