My friend Roy Haddon, who has died aged 79, was devoted to improving the housing conditions of those living in and around the city of York. Roy embraced modern thinking, and had a strong and absolute sense of moral integrity. He was not a bystander.
Roy realised the importance of people’s housing needs, and his successful tenure at York Housing Association, from 1977 until 1991, demonstrated this. He was instrumental in establishing the organisation and served as its first general manager. The foundation on which York’s social housing is built owes much to Roy’s vision and leadership. He also demonstrated progressive ideas about how best to support the housing needs of disabled people
This reflected his political commitment: he was a member of CND and of the Labour party, and he was a volunteer worker in the 1960s with the groundbreaking Notting Hill Housing Trust, which is where his interest in housing issues and inequality first took shape.
Roy was born in Rothwell, Northamptonshire. His father, Frederick, was a carpenter and his mother, Florence (nee Joyce), an accounts clerk, and he had three sisters, Eileen, Jennet and Rosemary. He enjoyed a happy childhood, playing cricket in the back garden with both family and friends, and honing his skills as a spin bowler. Later, once settled in York, he played for many years with Clifton Alliance Hospital Cricket Club.
After leaving school in 1960, Roy went to work with HM Customs and Excise in London, but returned to education in 1966, gaining a first in sociology from Canterbury University, then an MA in sociology at Hull University. He joined the University of York as a lecturer in sociology in 1970. Roy had a lifetime ambition to help the less fortunate, the homeless, refugees and asylum seekers, and this led him to York Housing Association.
He also supported a range of voluntary organisations, including Juniper Communities, which provided care to people with learning disabilities, and more recently worked at Refugee Action York
His work and voluntary interests reflected his longstanding commitment to social justice, and a strong compassion. This never left him. He loved reading, jazz and spending his free time walking the South West Coast Path, at Hadrian’s Wall, and in the Lake District, Scotland and Wales. He was a genuine, kind-hearted and loyal innovator.
Roy is survived by Rosemary and Jennet.
