Regulator Should Be Widened ‘To Cover All Landlords Of Social Housing’

In response to the Social Housing Green Paper, the National Federation of ALMOs has issued some strong recommendations on the future for regulation. The trade body, which represents ALMOs around the country, said “regulation needs to have teeth”. It added: “The Social Housing Regulator should be strengthened to be proactive in relation to consumer standards and widened to cover all landlords of social housing, including councils and their managing agents.” The body also called for residents to “be involved” where they want to be in the regulation of their landlord and that there needs to be “stronger representation for tenants at a national level”. It added this could be supported by “strong regional structures underneath” the representation at national level. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/regulator-should-be-widened-to-cover-all-landlords-of-social-housing/

ALMOs Above And Beyond?

It would scarcely be new to predict the demise of the ALMO sector. It would also be wrong. I would highlight five key messages for ALMOs in planning their future:

(a) The inbuilt nature of ALMOs’ customer involvement and focus is a key strength;

(b) Whatever the delivery model, the council remains the single shareholder – a successful ALMO will stay close to its council’s agenda;

(c) The greater the diversification, the more that the ‘new’ risks need to be understood and managed;

(d) The greater the diversification, the more the ALMO Board needs the skills to understand the business streams;

(e) Any institution that fails to challenge itself, adapt, innovate and reinvent periodically, will eventually be condemned to obsolescence.

Read more on the Campbell Tickell website.

New Ten-Year Deal For ALMO

Haringey Council is set to renew its arm’s-length management organisation’s contract for a further 10 years. The Labour-led council is expected to rubber-stamp a proposal to extend the contract of Homes for Haringey for 10 years after the current deal expires on 31 March next year. It also agreed to set up a development vehicle to refurbish stock and build new homes. The decisions follow recommendations from a review by a cross-party panel of councillors and tenants.  The review said Homes for Haringey, which manages more than 20,000 council homes, had shown strong tenant satisfaction ratings, strong tenant involvement and the ability to “move quickly to deliver and can make decisions without the constraints of the lengthy local authority process”. It also said the ALMO has a “significant record of financial savings and efficiencies”. The report said the ALMO had made savings of £3.2m in 2014/15. Read more on the Haringey Council website.

Resident Involvement Could Save Sector 'Millions'

Resident participation could save the sector millions, a minister has claimed, following the publication of government-backed research into tenant involvement. Stephen Williams, communities minister, said £118m could be wiped off housing associations’ costs at the publication of a review into Amicus Horizon’s resident involvement schemes. The report, Success, Satisfaction & Scrutiny, undertaken by the University of Westminster and backed by the CLG, examined six years’ worth of data from the 28,000-home landlord’s key performance indicators and financial accounts. The report identified a total of £6.64 million annual cost savings across twenty landlords, ranging from £1,000 savings in one landlord to £2 million in another. Download the report from the Amicus Horizon website.

Government Commits £250,000 to Boost Tenant Engagement

The government has announced £250,000 to help get social housing tenants involved in the management of their homes. Stephen Williams, communities minister, announced the investment which will see tenants offered training opportunities to get involved in the management of neighbourhoods. Mr Williams announced a further £250,000 to the Tenant Participation Advisory Service and Trafford Hall, extending the successful training provided under the tenant empowerment programme - providing more than 1,500 new training opportunities for social housing tenants, looking to get involved in the running of their neighbourhoods into 2015 to 2016. Read more on the GovUK website.

Research Heralds New Era in Resident Empowerment

Rewarding tenants who participate in resident involvement schemes results in a greater level of engagement, according to research. A study commissioned by the Hyde Group and Housing Quality Network also found large landlords are increasingly seeing resident involvement as necessary to justify public expenditure on their programmes. The study was led by Professor Hal Pawson of Heriot Watt University and looked at resident involvement in the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark. Download a copy of the report from the Hyde Group website.

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.

NFA Calls for Greater Transparency in Review of ALMOs

Many councils are reviewing the future of their ALMOs, and the NFA is urging councils to ensure they offer a fully transparent review process, providing comprehensive information on the impact of changes and ensuring tenants are involved from the start. The call follows recent high profile cases where ALMOs have been reviewed by their parent councils in a bid to take control of housing management in-house. Read the full story on the NFA website.

Shapps Consults on Draft Directions to Regulator

Grant Shapps has launched draft directions to the social housing regulator about the content of regulatory standards. These are much longer and more detailed than those issued under the last government following passage of the Housing and Regeneration 2008 Act, which they would replace. The draft directions cover:
*Tenure reform
*Tenant involvement
*Mutual exchange
*Affordable rent
*Decent Homes
The consultation runs until 29 September. The Tenant Services Authority intends to consult later in 2011 on the changes to its standards that will arise from the new directions. Download a copy of the consultation paper from the CLG website.

East Midlands Tenants Say 'Strictly No' To Government Housing Policies

At a Conference organised by the East Midlands Tenant Participation Forum more than 120 tenants and Tenant Involvement Officers got to hear about a range of Government policies and then vote on them. Delegates expressed profound concern both about Government policies and the very mixed response of their landlords to the requirements of the new Regulatory Framework. Delegates gave resounding 1 out of 10’s to flagship Government policies including flexible tenancies, housing benefit reform and the future of regulation and even where they marked higher scores on the future of tenant involvement and Housing Revenue Account reform these were tempered by dissatisfaction about the way Government policies were working. A number of tenants, from both Local Authority and Housing Association landlords related stories about how their landlord was taking no notice on the requirements for tenant scrutiny, scrapping tenant involvement structures and bolting on, without consultation, scrutiny into existing structures without clear purpose. Read more on 24dash.

Free e-Book from the Housing e-Academy

'Engaging Tenants Through Technology' is an excellent resource for housing providers who are looking for new and innovative ways to engage with their tenants. The e-Book covers ways of using new technology and modes of communication to get involved with your tenants in a cost effective and interesting way. Download a copy from the Housing e-Academy website.

Upcoming Workshops

Click on "HouseMark" next to "Location" for more details
Tough choices - achieving VFM from services
Date: 3 February 2011
Location: HouseMark , Coventry
Are you making the right decisions that offer the greatest value for money to your customers?
How would your organisation respond to similar cuts being imposed on the public sector?
How will your organisation respond to the reduction in local authority funding or a reduction in the benefits received by your residents?
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Developing Local Offers for the Tenant Involvement and Empowerment Standard
Date: 9 February 2011
Location: HouseMark , Coventry
Service choice and complaints, involvement and empowerment, and addressing diversity through understanding and responding to the diverse needs of tenants are key aspects of this standard, which are expected to be applied to all the other TSA standard areas. This interactive workshop will help you stay on track to hit TSA deadlines.
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Self assess your way to success
Date: 03 March 2011
Location: HouseMark , Coventry
This course is designed to help you keep ahead of the game and ensure your organisation is poised to deliver customer orientated, value for money improvements that can be demonstrated easily to your residents and stakeholders.

Basildon ALMO Could Close

Basildon Council is considering closing its ALMO. A report to be presented to the council’s cabinet on Thursday will recommend that St George’s Community Housing close and housing management services return back in-house. The report says closing the ALMO would save £1million and increase tenant participation. It has managed the council’s 12,900 homes since April 2007. Although SGCH secured its two-star rating in October 2009, subsequent government announcements on decent homes funding mean councils no longer need ALMOs with a good inspection rating to access funding. The council will carry out a tenant and leaseholder consultation this month and will make a final decision by March 2011. Read more on Inside Housing.

Best Practice Roundup – Click on the Hyperlinks for More Information

Reviewing a borough-wide customer involvement compact –Stockport_Homes conducted a wide scale consultation with their customers to develop a borough-wide empowerment offer. The aim was to boost tenant involvement in decision making and to improve tenant scrutiny.
Believe in customer excellence campaign - By championing customer service and variety of choice Parkway_Green_Housing_Trust has utilised innovative techniques to capture profiling data.
Embedding diversity initiative – Herefordshire_Housing have developed a system where trades operatives are trained to recognise and report concerns they may have about the vulnerability and disability of customers they meet when they are completing repairs.

Resident Involvement Benchmarking Workshop - 26 January 2011

Book your place now on this resident involvement benchmarking workshop. TAROE and TPAS are working with HouseMark to provide this workshop which will look at how social housing providers can get value for money from resident involvement. The workshop will cover;
*feedback on the HouseMark 2009/10 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
*How residents can use comparative performance information to hold their landlords to account
*Presentations from housing organisations who have demonstrated good practice and innovation in resident involvement.
Find more details on the HouseMark website.

TSA Champions Landlord and Tenant Engagement

The Tenant Services Authority (TSA) is calling on social housing landlords to become champions of tenant engagement. Through its Tenant Excellence fund, the TSA is offering providers the opportunity to become Co-regulatory champions and bid for up to £3,000 to help share their skills and experience with other providers and tenants. The champions will promote and encourage other landlords to increase their tenant involvement in the regulation of their homes and communities with an aim of working together to scrutinise, challenge and improve performance. Bidding is open from 12 November, with a submission deadline of 10 December 2010. The successful champions will be announced in the New Year. Guidance for potential co-regulatory champions can be found in the prospectus on the TSA website.

All Party Parliamentary Group Re-Formed To Protect Future of ALMO Movement

Clive Betts MP has been elected as chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for ALMOs as the Group re-forms following the General Election. The group will provide MPs and Peers with a forum to discuss key issues in council housing including the future of ALMOs and the importance of tenant empowerment. In line with the ALMO ethos of tenant participation, one of the key features of the group is that it invites tenants to come to meetings to participate in discussions and make their views known directly to MPs, Peers and Ministers. One example of the Group’s activities in the last Parliament was its support for the campaign to re-instate Decent Homes funding for Round 6 ALMOs which had been deferred by the Government. The end result was that the Government released some funding for eligible Round 6 ALMOs. Find out who’s on the group at the NFA website by clicking on the logo below.

Involving Residents from Under-Represented Groups

Northwards Housing in Manchester has developed an approach to involve residents in its project delivery teams, which are responsible for managing and delivering the estate-based home improvement projects. It identified three estates with forthcoming development works and tested an approach to identify, train and involve residents in overseeing the works. This TSA local offers trailblazer involved Northwards Housing tenants whose homes were receiving Decent Homes improvement works. The take-up rate of improvement work has increased in the pilot improvement projects - due to the increased opportunities for tenants to participate and for Northwards to engage with tenants, only one tenant (an elderly person in ill health) has declined to receive the planned improvements. Find out more on the Housemark website.

Effective Resident Involvement & Consultation in Sheltered Housing

This Good Practice Guide for Providers and Commissioners provides many practical case studies and snapshots for providers and commissioners as well as residents. It also identifies the potential barriers to effective consultation and how these can be overcome. Find a copy on the DHCare website.

Tenants 'Getting More Involved”

Tenants are getting more involved in managing their homes according to the TSA and the Audit Commission. In a research report published today entitled 'Tenant involvement: assessing landlords’ progress', the two watchdogs say that social landlords are getting better at involving tenants. And landlords are using more ways to involve their tenants. Much of this improvement is because landlords know that tenant views are taken seriously in the regulation of social landlords, and will be increasingly important. Read the full story on the 24dash website.