New Assistant Director of Housing appointed

A housing professional who has more than 20 years’ experience of working in the industry has been appointed as the new Assistant Director of Housing at Ashford Borough Council.

Jo Fox has joined the council after spending more than 10 years in senior roles at the West Kent Housing Association. Prior to that she had held senior housing positions at Swale Borough Council, Kent County Council, and also within central Government.

She said she was attracted to the position because Ashford Borough Council is widely regarded as being an innovative and forward-thinking authority with a positive approach to growth and development.

In spring 2024 the council self-referred itself to the Regulator of Social Housing after an external review commissioned by ABC revealed shortcomings in its building safety compliance across its stock of 5,000-plus homes. 

A robust action plan was created within a challenging timeframe to address the outstanding issues and ensure 100% compliance moving forward and to demonstrate this to tenants and leaseholders, members, staff, the wider public and the Regulator.

Jo Fox said: “Ashford’s landlord services are on an exciting transformational journey and I’m delighted to be a part of that. My role is to ensure that we take these improvements to the next level, and to provide housing services that we can all be proud of.

“My mission is to make sure that our tenants are at the heart of everything we do and I’m looking forward to achieving that with the help of our hard-working and dedicated staff in Ashford’s housing service,” added Jo, who is a member of the Chartered Institute of Housing.