Coastline Housing appoints new Chair

Social landlord Coastline Housing has appointed Francesca Rhodes as its new Chair.

Francesca joined the Board of the Cornish housing charity at the start of June as Chair Designate and will be working alongside departing Chair Steve Harrison to take over the reins following his retirement in September.

Having dedicated the last 18 years of her career to the social housing sector, Francesca joins Coastline with a wealth of experience and a keen ambition to help the charity’s mission to work with others to solve the housing crisis in Cornwall.

Francesca’s interest and commitment to social housing began at Sovereign Housing Group where she led the corporate finance function. She currently runs a small specialist consultancy in the sector utilising her broad governance, treasury, and corporate finance knowledge.

In addition, Francesca has fulfilled several trustee roles during her professional career, most notably during her term as an NED for Spectrum Housing, and previously as a Trustee for the Pfizer Group pension scheme.

Francesca says of her appointment: “The housing crisis continues to be a very real and serious issue for people of all ages and Cornwall faces its own particular set of challenges within this crisis thanks to issues such as second home ownership and tourism driving up the cost of rent in many spots, pricing local people out of the areas where they need to live and work. I am delighted to be joining Coastline as the team continues to work to bring more affordable housing to the county and to make a difference to improve lives and communities in multiple other ways as well.”

Steve Harrison, who will retire as Chair later this year, says: “We have been very fortunate to appoint a Chair with such a strong background in social housing and I have no doubt that Francesca will do a great job of ensuring Coastline continues to play a strong part in the housing sector within Cornwall. Providing people with a safe, warm, affordable home in which to live will always be a cause very close to my heart and it has been an honour to work with Coastline and guide the charity as Chair. I will look forward to watching Coastline’s next moves with great interest even after I have officially retired from the Board.”

Francesca joins Coastline as the landlord works to develop its latest strategic plan, covering the period up to 2028 and detailing its aims and ambitions throughout this period.