Ray’s Trustee Story
Hi there, can you introduce yourself?
I’m Ray Johnson, I’ve been Chair of The Purfleet Trust now for approximately 6 years, and my background is in chartered surveying and I hope to bring management skills to the board.
What inspired you to join the board at Purfleet?
Initially, after being invited to join, my reaction was to decline – I felt it was way outside my comfort zone. I eventually agreed to come to a couple of trustees meetings and felt that perhaps I had something I could offer, if only my experience of being Chair of Freebridge for nine years.
What’s one thing that surprised you about Purfleet or about homelessness since you’ve joined?
I think I knew nothing about homelessness. I’ve come from a very fortunate background where I’ve always been employed – It’s never been really on my radar. I think the big thing is that I didn’t realise quite how easy it is to become homeless and perhaps I’ve got the wrong image of homeless people. I just thought there were people that should get up and get a job, because that’s what I’ve been brought up. I believe I now fully understand that some of the people that are homeless are really quite clever people and could be any one of us.
What’s a project that you feel kind of most proud of being involved with in particular since with joined Purfleet?
Well, I think there’s more than one. I think I’ve been really proud of the of the social supermarket, I’ve been really proud of the House2Home project, and I’m really pleased with the Training Houses that we’ve got. It’s the fact that we’re not just helping people into a home, into four walls and leaving them, there’s a lot more to it than that. Well over 200 people that been through our Training Houses, we’ve got them into rented accommodation and, to date, not one of them has being evicted. And I think it’s the last bit that matters. It doesn’t matter how many people you get into housing, it’s those people that make it sustainable.
Is there anything that you in the future you’d like accomplish?
Yeah, I think I think there is, I think there’s two – greedy! One is intervention. We’re moving towards intervention. I think there’s a big gap in the market for Purfleet to operate between the tenant and the landlord, there’s a lot of tenants that are afraid to tell their landlord or talk to their landlord, or know how to seek support to avoid eviction. The second thing that I’d like to see is promoting Purfleet a little bit more. Certainly, when I joined Purfleet I knew little about them. I’ve done my bit and selling it to my friends and colleagues, and I think we’re ready now to step up another gear and promote with the press and let everybody know what a fantastic job The Purfleet Trust team are doing.
What does being a trustee mean to you?
It’s been the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done. It’s way out of my comfort zone. I’ve always had a very rewarding career, but there’s something about putting back into the community that I’ve found. I can’t put a price on it, it’s just something that’s been terrific.