Terry gets MBE after 20 years battling to improve East End council housing

A man who began 20 years of community activity as a 19-year-old tenant representative in London’s East End received national recognition in the Queen’s Birthday Honours.

Terry Stacy, a board member of One Housing Group and chairman of its Islands Homes subsidiary on the Isle of Dogs, was awarded an MBE last week, for service to housing.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I’d receive an award like this,” said Terry, now 39. “I’ve spent more than 20 years fighting to improve housing and communities.”

Terry, who went on to become a Tower Hamlets councillor from 1998 to 2001, has chaired Island Homes for more than two years and oversaw a �40 million major works and Island Homes returning to a tenant-majority board.

He moved to Highbury in 2002 and was subsequently elected to Islington Council, becoming leader in 2009-10.

Terry is the first tenant to be appointed to the National Housing Federation’s board and has been re-appointed to the Independent Housing Ombudsman board now being expanded to take on council housing complaints as part of the Government’s ‘localism’ agenda.