Tenant Ballots Will Not Affect Approved Regeneration Schemes

London mayor Sadiq Khan’s Good Practice Guide to Estate Regeneration backed residents’ right to vote on regeneration projects where demolition of social housing is involved, in a significant U-turn. Peabody, which is due to start onsite at its huge regeneration of Thamesmead in Greenwich in summer, confirmed that it did not anticipate needing to hold tenant ballots on the parts of the scheme that already have planning permission. But for phases that have not yet gained approval, a spokesperson said: “We will continue to ensure that there is full consultation and involvement with residents, and once more detail is available, will look at how we can take this forward.” Read more on Inside Housing.

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The Government Has Launched A National Survey To Gain Tenants Views On Social Housing

The Social Tenant Engagement Questionnaire aims to highlight any issues or concerns following the Grenfell tragedy, and the results used to share good practice and inform the government’s future policy. The online questionnaire covers the following issues:

•        managing complaints and redress routes

•        social tenants’ voices being heard

•        ensuring good and consistent quality services from landlords

•        safety of tenants

All the responses will be read by the Government and feed into their new social housing policy paper, to be published by the end of Spring 2018. Read more on South Essex Homes website.

LGA Launches Housing Commission

The Local Government Association has launched a Housing Commission to consider ways for councils to increase the supply of homes. The group will consider how town halls can contribute to building the 230,000 new homes England needs. Under its terms of reference, it will consider new ways councils can enable investment in new homes, as well as their placemaking role fostering prosperous places and communities. The potential for housing to support tenants into employment will also be examined, as will how housing can be used to help manage the ageing population and help reduce social care and health service costs.  A call for evidence has been issued looking for examples of good practice that have successfully addressed those issues, and asking what is needed to build on those successes. Read more on the Public Finance website.

DWP Workshops on Mitigating the Impacts of the Bedroom Tax

Following on from the recent publication of the DWP's Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy (RSRS) Good Practice Guide containing details of various strategies for mitigating the effects of the RSRS, it will be organising a number of Best Practice Workshops in September. If you are interested in attending then you need to register your interest with DWP. Once you have done so they will send you a short survey to find out, among other things, what you want to get from the event. After they receive your completed survey, they say they will analyse your feedback and send you an invite as soon as dates are confirmed. To register your interest, please send an e-mail, by 5pm on Friday 15 August 2014, to: housing.benefitenquiries@dwp.gsi.gov.uk.

Website Aimed At Solving Young People's Housing Problems

Housing charity Shelter has launched a new website designed to assist people working with young people on their housing and homelessness problems.  Launched as part of the National Homelessness Advice Service, the website also aims to help local authorities and their voluntary sector partners to take a more proactive approach toward preventing young people from becoming homeless.  The site draws together good practice and recent research, with an emphasis on the importance of early intervention. As well as containing expert information and advice, the site also signposts to other useful agencies that provide specialist support for young homeless people.  Take a look at the new website by clicking on the Shelter logo below.

Resident Involvement Benchmarking Workshops

In partnership with TPAS and TAROE
Date: 6 December (London), 8 December (Manchester)
Time: 10am (registration from 9.30am) to 4.00pm

With the Government’s emphasis on localism and resident scrutiny, the need for landlords to work closely with their residents has never been greater. HouseMark, in partnership with TPAS and TAROE is therefore pleased to announce it will be holding two more resident involvement benchmarking workshops. The workshop sessions will include:
• a presentation of the 10/11 Resident Involvement Benchmarking results which will cover the key areas of cost & resources, participation, communication and consultation, decision making and training
• value for money in resident involvement
• presentations from housing organisations who have demonstrated good practice and innovation in resident involvement.
Find full details on the HouseMark website.

Race Equality Foundation Launches “Better Housing” Website

The Race Equality Foundation has set up the Better Housing website with the aim of “Using evidence to promote race equality in social housing”. The website provides access to the organisation’s evidence-based briefing papers, provides good practice examples and signposts other useful information. These briefing papers have been written by experts to help policymakers, practitioners and their managers to consider the implications of the latest evidence on the housing experiences of black and minority ethnic communities. The site also has a growing set of related quality-assessed resources, and a forum to allow discussion, debate, and the opportunity to network with others in the field. Forthcoming conferences and training courses to promote race equality in housing are also listed in the events section. Access the website by clicking on the logo below. Keep up to date with the latest news in the field by registering for the monthly newsletter by emailing katherine@racefound.org.uk

Audit Commission – Good Practice April 2006 to March 2009

This is the most recent set of items of positive practice identified by the Housing Inspectorate. The report covers inspection reports published from April 2006 to March 2009. Access the Excel spreadsheet (6MB) at the Audit Commission here