A MAN who spent almost 20-years working for two of the world’s biggest professional services companies has taken on a new role with a North Yorkshire-based housing association.

David Smith is the new resources director at Broadacres, which is also celebrating becoming only the tenth housing association in the country to achieve a nationally-recognised accreditation on responding to domestic abuse.

Mr Smith, 44, has joined Northallerton-based Broadacres from Ernst & Young and previously worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers, and before that was a Civil Servant.

In both roles he provided specialist technical accounting advice to government and housing associations so has an in-depth knowledge of the sector.

Tasked with supporting Broadacres vision of becoming the best rural housing association in the country, Mr Smith said: “I wasn’t actively seeking to move employment and always thought when I did it would be because of the (right) job and not just a job, and that’s what the role Broadacres has afforded me.

“There’s a great team ethos and after so many years in professional service where you are often detached from everything, having met customers and viewed our homes, you can see what we do really makes a difference.”

The Northern Echo:

David Smith

Married with two teenage children, Mr Smith has lived in Stockton for 17-years.

He has taken over Broadacres at a time when 18-months of work has paid off to win the

Domestic Abuse Housing Alliance (DAHA)

accreditation.

The association was assessed against eight key standards to meet the DAHA criteria, which is recognised as the benchmark as to how housing providers should respond to domestic abuse.

Gail Teasdale, Broadacres chief executive, said: “Broadacres has always taken domestic abuse very seriously and this includes running our own women’s refuge which helps women and their children who have been affected by abuse.

“We wanted, however, to go a step further and become even more proactive in this area and as the DAHA accreditation is the UK benchmark for how housing providers should respond to domestic abuse, this was the logical next step for us. It’s taken 18-months of hard work by everybody involved in the project at Broadacres, and we’re delighted to become the first housing association in Yorkshire and only a handful in the entire UK to achieve the accreditation."