From jeans to a top £90,000 a year challenge

She came out over the moon because she had landed a temporary job at the

reception desk at Bradford housing department, covering for someone on

maternity leave.

Now Mrs Howley is again about to start a new job and fresh challenge as head of a trust which will deal with a programme to deliver £175 million worth of improvements to thousands of homes across the district.

During the years in between, she got married, had two children, became a

qualified chartered surveyor and obtained a degree in housing.

She also began to know everything there is to know about the housing service as

she moved from department to department.

Now she is settling in to her £90,000-a-year job as chief executive with Bradford Community Housing Trust. She will be a centre stage figure when the era of council housing ends in Bradford and 26,000 homes are passed over to the trust, including many in Ilkley.

The transfer will be the second biggest in Britain - beaten only by Sunderland which disposed of some 38,000 homes in a similar set-up.

Homes across the district are expected to move over to their different landlords on February 24 when the trust acquires the houses and the Council lets go of the strings.

They have guarantees about their rent levels and promises of £175 million-worth of improvements over the next five years.

There are, of course, sceptics among the thousands of families - but after 25 years in the Council's housing department, Geraldine Howley is convinced it is the right move.

Bradford community housing trust is the umbrella organisation covering six local trusts - Bradford West City, South Bradford, Aire-Wharfe, Shipley, North Bradford and East Bradford.

The Nationwide Building Society has been elected to invest £175 million

over the next five years to ensure every house is brought up to an acceptable standard.

The trust has also appointed three building and construction partners in

Wates Construction, Bullock Construction and Lovell Partnerships to help deliver the programme to upgrade the many run-down properties.

Mrs Howley says the move - described by opponents as "privatisation" - is essential because the cash-strapped Council cannot afford the huge

sum needed for improvements and repairs.

The good news for tenants when they move over is that funding is being

set aside to pay for any backlog of repairs at the time of transfer.

Mrs Howley said annual funding allocations for repairs would be increased and the boards were due to meet to decide which area would get what - and more importantly when.

The main trust is looking for city centre offices, but the smaller offices will be based in their own local areas.

When Mrs Howley, now 45, started work as a 20-year-old in the housing department, there were 48,000 council houses.

The number has fallen dramatically over the years because of demolition, tenants buying their houses and Government restrictions preventing local authorities from building new properties.

For Mrs Howley, the day the new trust builds its first house cannot come too soon. She said: "Things have changed so much that Sunderland has

just built a house with en suite facilities for the tenants. I'm dying for the day it will happen here."

But she has nostalgic memories of her early days with Bradford Council when a housing officer was expected to be a "Jack of all trades."

She took a full-time job as a housing officer when her temporary job in

reception came to an end.

"In those days it was a very male-orientated job and I was looking after about 1,000 houses in the Manchester

Road/Canterbury Road patch.

"Nowadays about 70 per cent of rent is paid by direct debit but in those days the housing officers knocked at doors and collected it. We organised painting surveys, sorted repairs and had real personal contact with the tenants."

Mrs Howley, whose daughters are 14 and ten, worked as a neighbourhood

manager for both Thorpe Edge and Buttershaw and eventually became

manager of Shipley area housing office.

As she moved upwards through the housing department, she became principal officer in tenancy services and helped to set up the enforcement and

mediation services.

Mrs Howley was appointed city housing officer in 1997 before beating outside candidates to the post of director of housing.

Her husband, Patrick, retired from his job as strategic director of housing and

environmental health two years ago.

Her department has won a series of top awards but the highlight for Mrs

Howley and her staff came four weeks ago when Audit Commission inspectors decided it was among the best in Britain.

The directorate was one of only nine in Britain to be awarded four out

of four marks when local authorities across the country were given

comprehensive performance assessments.

The last weeks being spent by Bradford tenants in their council houses are hectic for the team which has masterminded the transfer.

Hundreds of staff are about to be switched over and there have been

intensive negotiations with trade unions.

But now the last hurdle is expected to be crossed today - just 11 days before the transfer.

Then the Housing Corporation will decide whether to register the new trust as a social landlord.

The designation is essential if the transfer is to take place - but housing officers say so far there has been no indication of problems.

But the massive improvements on the estates won't just concentrate on

new doors and windows and kitchens.

But Mrs Howley said: "I want the environment to look different as well.

We have concentrated on the internal and not the external appearance of our estates.

"I want to get rid of the municipal look and there are some really good examples of light, colour schemes, plants and greenery. People should walk onto estates and decide they want to stay there."

She said the existing housing department would remain with about 80 staff and a head of housing. Its main role will be housing strategy and it will also deal with the private sector.

Mrs Howley will leave the vast layers of management in Bradford Council for a post where she will only be answerable to trust chairman Councillor Martin Smith.She said: "It is exciting to have such flexibility and freedom. I am looking forward to the challenge."