Yorkshire Housing, the largest social housing provider in Yorkshire, will be attending a panel discussion for the Housing 2017 conference. The Director of Development and New Business for Yorkshire Housing, Andy Gamble will be joining the panel at the 2017 conference. The Housing conference will take place over three years and is expected to attract more than 1,500 delegates. It has also been estimated that the event will be visited by around 8,000 people. The Housing 2017 conference will take place between the 27th and the 29th June at Manchester Central. Other notable people who will be joining Andy Gamble as a part of the panel is the chief operating officer of Willmott Partnership Charlie Scherer and the executive director of regeneration for the Accord Group, Alan Yates. At the Manchester event the panel will join together and discuss the role that is played by Housing Associations when it comes to alleviating the pressures on the construction sector due to skills shortages. Yorkshire Housing has been able to provide 18,000 affordable and social rent homes in the county and has plans to increase this number by building 3,000 more homes by 2020. The Housing Association offers a range of care and support services too across the Yorkshire region. By being such a prominent provider of affordable homes in the North of England, the Association is quite heavily invested in the ways that the skills shortage in the construction industry can be alleviated in order to help with the construction on more new homes. Andy Gamble of Yorkshire Housing has suggested that the deficit of people with construction skills in the industry. As the lack of skilled workers in the sector means the ability to construct more houses in order to meet demand becomes inhibited. The panel focusing on addressing the skills crisis takes place on the 28th June between 3:30pm and 4:30pm.