Age is a woeful thing

This is a short post just to reflect on the fact that there will be a changing of the housing guard in the coming months.  They can speak for themselves and I’m not going to name names (except one), but some of the people I look to, look up to, respect and admire are moving on from their current roles, either retiring or stepping back or stepping on.  One person I think I can namecheck is my amazing colleague, Prof Pete Mackie, who is stepping on to the Institute of Global Homelessness.  Lucky them, unlucky Cardiff (perhaps, I don’t know, but possibly, a product of the uncertainty at Cardiff at the moment).  Pete Mackie has been such a mainstay of research and WG responses to homelessness (consider, for example, his role on the expert group of homelessness), and I regret that I never really had a chance to work with him.  My reflection is that he is a bit of a whirlwind of activity, with which I certainly couldn’t keep up.  And, the others leaving/stepping back will leave a massive hole.

That tale of woe needs to be matched with the hive of activity which is going on in Welsh housing law, policy and politics.  I do understand that, and there are great things happening, but it is a moment to reflect both on where we are, my thanks to those people, and express a little bit of anxiety about the next gen of housing advocates, housing lawyers in Wales.  That is such an important thing, given the ambitions of where we are and are going in Welsh housing.  Legal education is such that, at undergrad level, it is no longer possible to teach a housing law module in a law degree.  How can we educate the next gen in Welsh housing law and policy?  Particularly for Welsh speakers.

Genuine question – please do get in touch if you have ideas.  One idea I have is to have a Welsh housing law one day conference next September (after the elections) – more on which to follow at some point.  Another idea is to do a series of online recorded talks which can be downloaded – what do you think?