Matt Cooney

After graduating in Manchester in History and Politics, Matt pursued a career in social housing initially working on Manchester City Council’s Moss Side estate prior to its regeneration.  He has always worked in social housing and became a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Housing.  He brings a wide knowledge of social housing operations and a knowledge of governance and finance to the Board of Watmos.

Matt joined Wyre Forest based Community Housing in September 2020 and has led the development of a new Corporate Plan that aims to transform customer perception and generally improve the performance of the business with customer service as its core focus.  He is active in the local Chamber of Commerce and the Housing Strategy Partnership in Worcestershire.

Matt has considerable experience of working at a senior level in housing. He moved to the Midlands in 2000 to join Solihull Council as Deputy Director. He helped to establish North Solihull Regeneration which improved the Chelmsley Wood and Kingshurst areas and then led the team that established Solihull Community Housing (SCH) and became its first Chief Executive.  SCH was the first housing service to be awarded 3 stars with excellent prospects for improvement by the Audit Commission in the West Midlands.

Matt was Chief Executive of Asra Housing Group from 2010 and helped transform it to a housing association with strong customer satisfaction and performance. He then became Chief Operating Officer of PA Housing following the merger between Asra and Paragon, leading the integration of the two businesses. Prior to joining Community Housing, Matt was working for Surrey County Council to help them improve the performance of their Land & Property Team.