"The housing Green Paper requires the Housing Corporation to work much more closely with local authorities working in a strategic sense than it has done previously," he said.
Corporation chairman Brenda Dean, speaking after the corporation's board approved the appointment this week, said there had been a good field for the job, but Perry had "stood out".
"People were expecting a civil servant and possibly a woman. But this man is the best person for the job," she told Housing Today.
"With the government's new agenda we wanted someone who could take an overview. We have all been talking about partnership. Here we have got someone who has worked outside the direct registered social landlord sector. With the skills of [corporation deputy chief executive] Simon Dow and his team we are now really well placed to deliver."
Before joining Solihull in 1996, Perry was chief executive of Wolverhampton metropolitan borough council. He previously headed the government's City Action team for Birmingham and was the Deparment of Trade and Industry regional director in the west Midlands. He also spent 11 years at the Department of the Environment.
"My career has been split fairly evenly between central and local government and I felt I was ready for a big national challenge," he said.
He added that his time in local government had been "absolutely delightful" but it was a good time to move to the corporation, with the government "taking big strategic decisions about the future of public services."
Perry, who will take up the new post on 2 October, replaces Anthony Mayer who left in February to join Transport for London as transitional chief executive.
Source
Housing Today
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