Choosing housing: An interview with Eoghan Cregan

In our sector we regularly hear “I fell into housing”, something here we are trying to change to “I chose to stay in housing”.

Our All-Ireland Housing Awards are a great opportunity for us to showcase some of those professionals who either chose housing, or chose to stay. Eoghan Cregan is one of our ‘Young Professional Award’ nominees who chose housing as a career, and this is his story of how he did it.

I joined Co-Operative Housing Ireland (CHI) in June 2022 as a housing officer graduate. I had recently completed an MSc in Sustainable Development at Technological University Dublin (TUD), with my research dissertation centered around the effect that professional Irish football clubs have on disadvantaged communities, with a particular focus on housing. This is what ignited my interest in social housing and my desire to better and improve communities in Ireland. I applied to work with CHI and I was delighted to be offered the role.

I began my work as a housing officer graduate by shadowing other experienced housing officers, who walked me through the wide variety of roles and responsibilities that the job entailed. Although the role was completely new to me, I soon found allocations and lettings, arrears management, tenancy management, estate management and anti-social behaviour (ASB) prevention and monitoring, to be second nature to me.

My first scheme was Weaver’s Wood in Clonsilla, Dublin 15. Management allowed me to take this scheme on as a housing officer to hone my skills, whilst providing me with guidance and support. I was able to build successful and positive tenant relationships by having a continuous presence on the estate. I felt that the tenants were happy to know that the organisation was making the effort to maintain the estate, address issues of ASB and build a strong sense of community. For the duration of the year, I had built strong relationships with tenants in the estate, and through doing this I had managed to significantly reduce arrears and instances of ASB, whilst providing estate management services through our various contractors.

I’ve always been happy to keep my online socials updated with my experiences of being a housing officer, and this exposure eventually led to me being approached by The Wheel, who asked me to speak at a breakout session at their annual summit in May 2023. I discussed my initial experiences of being a housing officer with CHI and how organisations can inspire, support and retain young professionals like me in the third sector. I was sure to post about my day at the annual summit on LinkedIn!

Caroline Moloney at Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) picked up on this, and felt that I would be a good fit to join the CIH Futures board. After the Futures board had fully formed, we embarked on a mission to convince third level graduates to consider a career in housing by choice. We agreed that we would visit colleges around the country and deliver talks to students studying social care or other community related degrees. In November 2023, I delivered a talk to fourth year social care students in Dundalk IT, discussing the myriad of day-to-day roles of a housing officer as well as pathways and routes to taking up a career in housing. I think I may have turned a few heads.

I have a strong desire to support individuals and families in Ireland who are vulnerable or underrepresented in our society. That is why I took up a position on the board of trustees of Kildare Traveller Action (KTA) in August 2023, an advocacy organisation for members of the travelling community in County Kildare. Boardmatch and The Wheel approached me and felt that I would be able to provide KTA with the housing knowledge I had acquired in my work to tackle issues surrounding traveller accommodation in the county. We have been busy rewriting the organisation’s constitution and reviewing policy over the past few months. We are constantly working toward our goal of instigating positive social change for the wellbeing of travellers in Ireland.

CHI’s housing services underwent an organisational restructuring in July 2023. I applied to join the neighbourhood delivery team and was successful. As a neighbourhood specialist, I predominantly focus on lettings and allocations, estate management and tenancy management. I have 140 newly built homes coming into my management in the coming months. I am delighted to be filling every one of those homes with individuals and families who need them most.

Two estates were suffering from neglect prior to my management. I tendered contracts for landscaping with a contractor that I introduced to CHI. The landscaper completely transformed the look of both estates. Calls were received by our call centre from tenants who wished to compliment the work done.

I used my network from an undergraduate degree in NCAD to tender contract to an established street artist who consulted with our tenants in Halliday Mills Dundalk and painted a large scale mural on a six floor indoor lobby wall. The tenants expressed great satisfaction with the resulting colourful artwork and improvement of their communal space.

I supported a single mother of five who had suffered a bad breakup and had been ostracised by her community. I made referrals for her to Tusla with her consent who provided support. I provided her with a supporting letter from CHI for the exceptional needs grant to buy new appliances, flooring and bedding for her and her children. She has since managed to turn hers and her family's lives around and begun to create a positive family setting and environment. We are so proud of her.

One Christmas I organised a Christmas card design competition for children in Weaver's Wood. The winner received an Eason's gift card as well as having their card design printed and distributed to the estate as CHI Christmas greetings. All runners-up designs also went to print!