CIEH Housing and Health Conference

Ben Reeve-Lewis, Policy and Strategy Manager, Safer Renting. Ben has dealt with criminality in the private rented sector for 35 years as a local authority Tenancy Relations Officer. He co-founded Safer Renting in 2015, a charity providing a TRO service for 11 London boroughs and 5 in Suffolk. He co-authored the seminal report "Journeys in the Shadow Private Rented Sector" and is contributing author of "Regulating the Private Rented Sector" published by Routledge Books. He has also been a trainer of housing law for 25 years exclusively for front line local authority officers.

Carlene Thomas MCIEH CEnvH FRSH, Setting the Standard (StS) Senior Inspection Officer, London Borough of Ealing. Carlene Thomas is a Chartered Environmental EHP and has been working as a Housing EHP for over 30 years for several London Local Authorities. Carlene currently works for the West London Alliance/Commissioning Alliance, as a Senior Inspection Officer for the Setting the Standards Inspection Service, where she manages a team of Inspection Officers who inspect Privately Rented, Nightly- Paid and Studio Temporary Accommodation Pan London, on behalf of the London Housing Directors. Carlene is also the Chair of the CIEH Housing Coffee and Catch meetings and a CIEH Housing Advisory Panel Member and served as a former CIEH Trustee for 7 years.

Catherine Graham, PRS Database Delivery Manager, MHCLG. Catherine leads on engagement and implementation for the Private Rented Sector Database, introduced through the Renters’ Rights Bill. She has worked across various social policy areas throughout her career, starting as a Policy and Strategy Graduate Management Trainee in the NHS, and more recently leading on rough sleeping delivery in MHCLG, primarily focussing on community networks and the relaunch of StreetLink.

Eloise Pearson, Senior Programme Manager, Leeds Office of West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board. Eloise is a senior programme manager for children’s physical health and women’s health at the Leeds Office of the West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board. During her time at the ICB, Eloise has worked on various projects and programmes to improve care for children and young people in Leeds, with a focus on respiratory health and how it relates to health inequalities. She played a major role in creating innovative projects such as the Women’s Health Hub and the Children’s Respiratory and Housing Pathways.

Erika Smith, Children's Health Outreach Coordinator, Care & Repair Leeds. Erika has recently joined Care and Repair as the Children’s Health Outreach Coordinator, on the Breath Easy Homes project. This is a project close to Erika's heart, allowing her to use her experience working with families and ventilation/damp/mould knowledge, to identify and support vulnerable households in the city of Leeds.

Dr Henry Dawson CEnvH MCIEH, Senior Lecturer and Programme Director for Environmental Health at Cardiff Metropolitan University. Henry’s research interests focus on regulatory interventions for housing and health. His recent work includes national analysis of property licensing schemes and authoring of the recent updates to the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) Operating Guidance. Henry sits on the Wales Housing Expert Panel, the Rent Smart Wales Advisory Panel, and the Welsh Housing Survey Advisory Panel. He is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a Chartered Member of CIEH, and a member of the International Federation of Environmental Health (IFEH).

Hermione Cross, Deputy Bill Manager of the Renters' Rights Bill, MHCLG. Hermione is one of the Deputy Bill Managers for the Bill, specifically leading on the parts of the Bill related to tenancy reform. Previously, Hermione worked on the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 and the Ground Rent Act 2022.

James Dyson, Campaigner and Researcher, E3G. James is a Senior Researcher at the independent climate change Thinktank E3G. He focuses on how the UK can decarbonise home heating fairly for all households while devolving decision making and repowering our local councils. At E3G, James works closely with local government, including Environmental Health Officers, to understand how homes policy can be most effectively implemented on the ground. His most report, “How to improve living standards for millions of private renters”, focuses on how national government can support councils to implement higher standards in the private renter sector.

Dr Jill Stewart CEnvH FCIEH FRSPH CIHM SFHEA AFPH, Associate Professor in Public Health, University of Greenwich. Currently Associate Professor in Public Health at the University of Greenwich, Jill Stewart spent a decade working in housing in local government before taking her first academic post in 1999. Her research and teaching work largely focuses on housing and health, including the environmental health housing workforce, featuring across a range of publications, media and conferences. Jill is a Fellow of the CIEH and a Chartered EHP, a Member of the Chartered Institute of Housing, a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a Fellow of the Royal Society for Public Health and an Associate of the Faculty of Public Health. She is co-chair of the London Public Health Housing Network and a member of the CIEH Housing Advisory Panel. She is a founding member of the Environmental Health Research Network. Contact details: [email protected] or @housing-jill.bsky.social

Lisa Gibson, Strategy and Business Development Manager, Health Partnerships, Leeds City Council. Lisa Gibson is a Strategy and Development Manager in Leeds Health Partnerships Team. Hosted by Leeds City Council, Lisa’s work focuses on fostering collaboration and creating the right conditions for partnerships to thrive. Lisa has been involved in key initiatives aligned with the Leeds Health and Wellbeing Strategy, with a particular focus on areas such as Health and Housing, for which she project manages the children’s respiratory work, including Breathe Easy Homes, bringing together key partners. Outside of her professional life, Lisa is a proud mother to two active, sports-loving boys, keeping her happily busy. She also serves as a Beaver leader and enjoys a variety of hobbies, including singing, running, and planning family adventures. A passionate traveller, Lisa especially loves visiting the French Alps.

Matt Egan, Professor of Public Health, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Matt works on evaluating complex interventions affecting population health. This work includes leading research into PRS and selective licensing. He co-leads the NIHR School for Public Health Research Healthy Places Healthy Planet Programme, a NIHR funded evaluation of licensing in the private rented housing sector; and he plays leading roles in other major programmes and projects. Matt has over 100 publications listed on Google Scholar.

Megan Hinch, Policy Manager, Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH). Megan leads CIH’s work on supply, planning and finance policy. In this role, Megan is also a Knowledge Exchange Fellow at the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence (CaCHE). Megan holds a Masters degree in Global Public Policy, and has completed the CIH Level 4 Qualification in Housing. Megan has previously worked at a housing association, largely focusing on operational and strategy work in asset and housing management.

Zena Lynch, Honorary Associate Professor, University of Birmingham. During her time working at the University, she was programme lead for the MSc Environmental Health and MSc Public and Environmental Health Science courses. Prior to working at the University, Zena was Health Policy lead and Director of ‘Living Well West Midlands’ for the West Midlands Regional Assembly, leading large scale, community-based, health and wellbeing projects. Zena also worked for many years as an Environmental Health Practitioner, latterly focusing in the housing and public health arena and this is where her concern for social justice related to peoples experience of poor living environments originated. In particular she investigates interactions between housing and health and the impact of poor and insecure housing on people’s lives. Amongst other publications, she is joint author of the second edition of the Environmental Health and Housing book published in 2018 and a contributor to ‘Regulating The Privately Rented Sector’ published 2022. Recently she led an international ‘Housing. Health and Extreme Events’ conference, bringing academic, practitioner and community colleagues together from across the world, with respect to building resilience against extreme events, and she is currently working with colleagues with respect to a Healthier Housing project in Oxford.

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