At a time like this, your council
needs to be an ARCH member more than ever…
The Social Housing sector faces a number of significant
challenges over the coming years and we believe strongly that there
is a need for an organisation like ARCH that can represent the
stock-retained sector and support its member councils in meeting
those challenges.
The Social Housing White Paper set out a new Charter for Social
Housing Residents and a range of measures to raise the standard of
social housing backed by a series of significant regulatory changes
and a new regulatory regime to enforce new consumer standards.
The measures outlined in the Social Housing White Paper will
present a number of challenges as well as opportunities, and if we
are to deliver social housing that we can all be proud of this will
require the sector to come together and be supported by a
representative body whose primary aim is to make the case for the
future of council housing.
Council housing is at a crossroads, it stands on the cusp of
becoming a vibrant, dynamic and growing sector for the first time
in well over a generation. To achieve this, there are a number of
challenges to be overcome, as well as opportunities to be gained,
and this requires strong, effective leadership from a
representative body.
Councils with housing have won the battle for self-financing and
are making the most of the opportunities it presents; but there's
always more to be done.
The present & future
- Performance management of councils with housing has improved
markedly
- Self-financing will place the sector on a more even financial
footing with housing associations
- Councils are at the heart of the government's localism agenda -
empowering communities and tenants, making a growing contribution
to regeneration, leveraging off strategic partnerships
- The Homes and Communities Agency is actively engaging with
councils both in their strategic housing role and as the deliverers
of new homes (more than 40 councils are in receipt of social
housing grant funding).
Councils with housing have distinctive interests, and need their
own, independent, effective voice. Only ARCH can provide this. ARCH
is the voice of the sector - we want to become more effective by
bringing all eligible councils into membership. ARCH has emerged as
an important conduit of sector views to government, and a trade
body that is restoring confidence in the sector. Can your council
afford not to be involved?
"Being members of ARCH keeps us up to date with the
development of policy and practice in local authority housing.
There is no other forum that enables us to do that. ARCH also
champions the cause of council housing and represents our sector
with the media, government, and other housing agencies. In a period
where the role of council housing is increasingly important, we
need ARCH to speak on our behalf, share best practice, and help us
work better together."
Patrick Odling-Smee, Havering
What we've been
involved in
ARCH has been instrumental in lobbying for the lifting of the
Housing Revenue Account Borrowing Cap and recently introduced
flexibilities in the use of receipts from Right to Buy sales. The
Social Housing White Paper highlighted the Government's desire to
see local authorities make the most of borrowing flexibilities and
share experiences and good practice in housebuilding to build the
next generation of council homes. ARCH is well placed to support
our member councils to do that through our network of member
councils and to hold the Government to its promise to support the
building of more council homes.
Your council (members, officers, tenants) needs to be part of
our movement. You need to influence where ARCH goes, what it says
and does, and come together with all other stock-retained councils
to continue to position the sector where it ought to be. You can't
do that from the outside.
- ARCH currently represents the views of more than 60
stock-retained councils in England, and that figure is growing as
more councils decide that now is the time to join.
- We act as a collective, non-political voice for councils with
housing, council housing officers and tenants -a voice that is
increasingly being listened to and being asked for its views by
government.
- ARCH provides strong, effective support to members directly as
a result of our partnership with CIH and HouseMark, along with the
skills and expertise of our policy adviser Matthew Warburton.
- ARCH presents councils with housing with an opportunity to act
collectively and thus be more efficient and effective - for
example, commissioning research or consultancy support
together.
Policy
- Free access to all ARCH policy briefings and updates, produced
by our Policy Adviser Matthew Warburton with support of CIH policy
team.
- Free policy and good practice information via our Policy
Adviser, as well as the resources of Housemark.
- Free access to any dedicated research commissioned by ARCH that
is purely for, and on behalf of, councils with housing.
- The opportunity to influence ARCH policy on how we respond to
the government's agenda.
Improvement
- A fortnightly ARCH Bulletin.
- Free access to the member-only area of our modernised
website.
- Free access to ARCH Exchange, enabling senior housing staff to
share knowledge and seek advice from colleagues in other member
councils.
Events
- Annual AGM for all ARCH members featuring a discussion on a
critical topic.
- Invitation to the Stock Retained Councils' Chief Officer annual
conference.
- Free attendance to at least three seminars per year - topical
speakers and networking opportunities.
- Free support for tenants via the ARCH Tenants' Group (supported
by Housemark)
- Free attendance for your tenants (up to five per council) to
the annual ARCH Tenants' Conference
Tenant
participation
- Free support for tenants via the ARCH Tenants' Group and
the right to nominate a tenant representative for election to the
Group.
- Up to 5 free places for your council at the annual ARCH
Tenants' Conference
There are two membership fee options to choose from:
1. £2,500 per year plus VAT membership fee.
2. £2,250 per year plus VAT if you sign up for a three-year
membership paid up front.
For membership
enquiries and website
access contact:
Julie Morton, ARCH Administrator -
024 7647 2711
julie.morton@arch-housing.org.uk
For general enquiries contact:
Matthew Warburton, Policy Adviser
- 07891 105906
matthew.warburton@arch-housing.org.uk