Chan Kataria, Chief Executive of East Midlands Housing (EMH) group, has been awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for services to housing in the East Midlands.
The award recognises immense personal and professional contribution to the housing sector and communities over the past 30 years, and in particular his success in building EMG group into one of the country’s most successful and highly-regarded social businesses.
Under Kataria’s leadership, East Midlands Housing group has grown to own and manage more than 19,000 homes, with its annual turnover (£100 million) and output of new homes (400 per year) almost doubling over the last five years.
A programme to restructure and make the group fit for the future has yielded more than £1 million of yearly cost savings since 2012.
Ugandan-born Kataria came to the UK aged 11 in 1972, when his family was among those forced to leave their home country by the regime of Idi Amin. Having completed a degree in Economics, he chose a career in housing to play his part in tackling the emerging housing crisis.
The East Midlands faces particular challenges with sharply rising house prices and rents, coupled with static and below-average regional incomes creating acute housing need, and a shortfall of around 30,000 homes since 2011.
After working for a range of local, regional and national housing organisations, Kataria joined East Midlands Housing Association in 2004 and set about building it into a much larger and more diverse group.
