By Safira Ali

Last updated at 15:59, Wednesday, 10 March 2010

A Whitehaven man is in the running to become a national housing hero.

Stephen Pettit, housing liaison officer for affordable property provider Home, has been shortlisted from more than 300 entries to the national 2010 Housing Heroes Awards.

The awards shine the spotlight on the people and teams that are doing great work in the social/affordable housing sector.

Mr Pettit is now one of six left in the running for the Inspirational Colleague of the Year Award.

The event is organised by Inside Housing magazine and the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH), and attracted a massive response from around the country.

Andrea Thorn, acting director at Home, said: “I am very pleased and proud that Stephen has reached the finals of the 2010 Housing Heroes Award. He really is an inspirational colleague who puts the welfare of customers above anything else.”

Howard Farrand, the president of the CIH, said he was amazed by the fantastic people working in the housing sector.

He said: “Our sector spends a great deal of time talking about policy and strategy, business plans and budgets, our visions and our mission statements.

“Of course all of these things are really important. But in my experience it is the extraordinary people that do fantastic work for our customers that make the real difference.

“So I want to congratulate every finalist for getting this far in these awards. It was extremely tightly contested, and I look forward to helping to unveil the eventual winners in May.”

Inside Housing’s events director Ted Stevens said: “All the finalists have done brilliantly in getting this far. Well done to Stephen for making the shortlist – the competition was really fierce with more than 40 entries in some categories.”

The winners will be revealed at the awards ceremony at London’s Hilton Hotel on May 14, hosted by TV presenter, explorer and Atlantic rower Ben Fogle.

First published at 11:25, Wednesday, 10 March 2010
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk