Homes England has announced that chair Peter Freeman and chief executive Peter Denton will be stepping down from their roles after four years leading the agency together.
Denton will move on in the New Year and Freeman will hand over to his successor when the recruitment of a new chair is completed later next year. The search for a new chair will commence next week and an interim CEO will be announced shortly.
Freeman (pictured) said: “The agency has a vital role managing many of the government’s interventions to accelerate housing and regeneration across the country by supporting our partners in local government, affordable housing and housebuilding. It has been a privilege chairing the organisation since 2020 and working closely with our partners and incredible staff operating from offices across the country.
“Under Peter Denton’s leadership, despite economic headwinds, the agency has met its targets and increasingly demonstrated its pivot back to a place-based organisation. I look forward to continuing to lead the agency until my successor is appointed, and will then focus my attentions on my role as chair of the Cambridge Growth Company.”
Denton added: “Our work together at the agency as ‘the Peters’ has reflected a period of intense activity and achievement for the agency. We successfully navigated the transition to being a fully-fledged and empowered housing and regeneration agency delivering strongly, especially in affordable housing, and initiating many catalytic regeneration projects throughout the country.
“The agency is excited to help the government realise its target of 1.5 million homes, and to offer capacity and capability to the mayors and local councils to deliver their local growth plans, including the largest delivery of new social housing in two generations. This will require a leadership team with a time horizon extending beyond the period I had originally set for myself. It’s important, therefore, that 2025 sees a new chair and a new CEO taking on this incredible fresh mandate.
“Finally, I would like to thank my incredible agency colleagues for the expertise and remarkable dedication and energy they bring to the task of social equity and ensuring everyone has a decent home.”
Matthew Pennycook, housing and planning minister, said: “On behalf of the government, I would like to thank Peter Freeman and Peter Denton for their leadership of the agency over recent years. Their efforts have been integral to reshaping Homes England into an effective national housing and regeneration agency that is increasingly focused on exemplary place-based regeneration and placemaking as well as new housing supply.
“I wish both Peters all the best in their future endeavours. We will shortly begin the process of recruiting their successors, with the search for a new chair starting next week and an interim CEO will be confirmed shortly.”
