Ashford Borough Council won or shared three Kent Housing Group awards, more than any other organisation, including Team of the Year for its homelessness service.
Ashford Borough Council’s housing staff came home from this year’s Kent Housing Group Excellence Awards with more wins than any other organisation in Kent and Medway. The council won or shared three of the category awards and collected three highly commended places.
The biggest of them is Team of the Year. It went jointly to Ashford’s Housing Options and Allocations Service and Thanet District Council’s Housing Options Team. Housing Options is the team a resident deals with when they are about to lose their home.
The ceremony was held on Monday 21 September at the Glass Box Theatre, MidKent College, in Gillingham, in Medway (Kent Housing Group).
Who from Ashford was recognised
Kent Housing Group published the full list of winners. The Ashford names on it are:
- Team of the Year, joint winner: the Housing Options and Allocations Service
- Innovation, winner: Elizabeth Mitchell
- Associate Professional, winner: Jo Stocks
- Associate Professional, highly commended: Ellie Millard and the Resettlement Team
- Housing Professional, highly commended: Sylvia Roberts
- Young Professional, highly commended: Lottie Rooke-James
The council confirmed the same results in its own announcement on 23 September (Ashford Borough Council).
How that compares
Kent Housing Group says 14 winners and 13 highly commended entries were recognised this year, plus an honorary mention and a Chair’s Award. Across the category awards, the count of wins looks like this:
| Organisation | Category wins |
|---|---|
| Ashford Borough Council | 3 (one shared) |
| Thanet District Council | 2 (one shared) |
| Porchlight | 2 |
| Folkestone and Hythe District Council, Moat, West Kent Housing Association, Swale Borough Council, Canterbury City Council’s Resident Engagement Panel, Town and Country Housing | 1 each |
No other organisation matched Ashford’s six places on the list, counting wins and highly commended together. Porchlight and Thanet had three each (Kent Housing Group, category winners and highly commended).
What the Team of the Year does
Housing Options handles homelessness in the borough. The council’s latest performance report shows the scale of that work over the past three quarters:
| Quarter | New homelessness cases | Households kept in their home | Families in B&B over six weeks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct to Dec 2025 | 441 | 56 | 0 |
| Jan to Mar 2026 | 524 | 72 | 0 |
| Apr to Jun 2026 | 435 | 79 | 0 |
The last column matters. The law treats bed and breakfast as unsuitable for a family with children except in an emergency, and then for no more than six weeks in total (Homelessness (Suitability of Accommodation) (England) Order 2003, articles 3 and 4). Ashford has had no family past that limit at the end of any of the last three quarters.
The report credits a “chain lettings approach” and “close monitoring” for keeping the figure there. It also says the team has finished a restructure, with every procedure reviewed and a new training package in place (Q1 2026/27 performance report, Appendix A, Ashford Borough Council).
An Ashford hand in the Chair’s Award too
The night’s special award also had an Ashford link. The council’s chief executive, Tracey Kerly, presented the KHG Chair’s Award to Tim Woolmer of Kent County Council, for his contribution to housing across Kent and Medway.
What it means for you
- If you are at risk of losing your home, the award-winning team is the one to contact, and the earlier the better. In April to June it took on 435 new cases, and prevented homelessness for 79 households who stayed in their homes.
- Ring or apply before an eviction date, not after it. The council’s housing advice pages explain how to get help at ashford.gov.uk.
- The awards are peer-judged recognition, not an inspection. They say the work is well regarded across Kent’s housing sector. They do not replace the council’s own performance figures, which are published each quarter and go to Cabinet next on 8 October.
More on the council: council tax bands in Ashford and Ashford planning news.
Sources
- Kent Housing Group: KHG Excellence Awards celebrate housing heroes, for the date, venue, host, the count of 14 winners and 13 highly commended entries, and the full list of category winners and highly commended.
- Ashford Borough Council: Kent Housing Group Excellence Awards celebrate housing heroes, published 23 September 2026, for the Ashford results, the Chair’s Award presentation and both photographs.
- Ashford Borough Council, Performance Report Quarter 1 2026/27, Appendix A, for new triage cases, preventions and families in B&B over six weeks for Q3 2025/26 to Q1 2026/27, and the team’s restructure.
- Homelessness (Suitability of Accommodation) (England) Order 2003, articles 3 and 4, for the six-week limit on B&B for families.
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