Jenny Hill, Chair of the ARCH Tenant Group, was invited to
contribute a tenant perspective to a major new report by the Labour
Housing Group.
The report "The Missing Solution - council homebuilding for the
21st Century" was launched at the Labour Party
Conference in Brighton and Jenny was invited to speak at the
conference.
The report comprises a collection of essays with contributions
from a number of senior figures in the housing sector including,
amongst others, Paul Hackett (Director of the Smith Institute),
Alison Inman (Former President of the Chartered Institute of
Housing) and Steve Partridge ( Director Savills Affordable Housing
Consultancy).
Writing in a personal capacity, Jenny's non-partisan
contribution reflects not only her personal experience as a tenant
but also the discussions and debates on housing held in the ARCH
Tenant Group.
Click here for a copy of the full report
and read Jenny's contribution in Section 4 of the report on the
need for high quality homes in high quality
neighbourhoods.
ARCH Chief Executive John Bibby comments:
"The fact that Jenny, as Chair of the ARCH Tenant Group, was
invited to contribute to this report reflects the growing influence
of ARCH and the ARCH Tenant Group and it is vitally important that
political parties of all colours hear the views of tenants and
residents and that their views have a major influence on future
housing policy".
ARCH has been in regular liaison with the Regulator for Social
Housing (RSH) regarding their plans to introduce new Tenant
Satisfaction Measures (TSM) to assess and compare landlords'
performance and the new regulatory framework set out under the
proposals in the Social Housing White Paper.
We expect the RSH to consult formally on the new TSMs later this
year but in the meantime the RSH are running three workshops, based
on the TSM themes in the White Paper and ARCH is pleased to report
that the RSH have reserved an allocation for members of the ARCH
Tenant Group of 9 places at each of the three workshops (i.e. 27
places in total across the 3 dates). The workshops will take place
virtually.
These workshops will examine three themes and will help inform
the new TSMs to be introduced under the new regulatory
framework:
- Complaints and Resident Engagement
- Repairs and Building Safety
- Antisocial Behaviour and Neighbourhood Management
Participation in the workshops will give members of the ARCH
Tenant Group the opportunity to identify the key issues that matter
to tenants of social housing and influence the standards &
measures by which social landlords' performance will be assessed
under the new regulatory framework.
We previously reported that three members of the ARCH Tenant
Group Wyn Marshall (Epping Forest, Marlene Price BEM (Wandsworth)
and Bryan Tulley (Crawley), had been successful in their
applications to be members of the Housing
Ombudsman's new Resident Panel.
We are pleased to report that a further four members of the ARCH
Tenant Group have also been invited to join the Housing Ombudsman's
Resident Panel and we extend our congratulations to Nev Allison
(Hull), Yaw Boateng (Croydon), Stella Parkin (Rotherham) and Pat
Watson (Reading).
We previously reported the intention of the Housing Ombudsman to set up a new Resident
Panel to create a stronger resident voice, as well as to
seek input and feedback around the development of the Housing
Ombudsman service.
We are pleased to report that ARCH Tenant Group members Bryan
Tulley (Crawley), Marlene Price BEM (Wandsworth) and Wyn Marshall
(Epping Forest) have been successful in their applications to be a
member of the Housing Ombudsman's Resident Panel.
ARCH understands there was a very high level of interest from
residents and the Housing Ombudsman has decided to create a pool of
residents that they can select from to take part in various
meetings, discussions and other activities.
The Housing Ombudsman is now planning two introductory sessions
for all Panel members that will take place virtually at the
end of April.
ARCH and the ARCH Tenant Group continue to extend their
influence on the national stage and following the attendance of the
Deputy Chief Executive of the Regulator for Social Housing (RSH) at
a recent meeting of the ARCH Tenant Group we are pleased to
announce that Jenny Hill, the Chair of the ARCH Tenant Group, has
been invited to represent the ARCH Tenant Group on a Tenant Liaison
Group set up by the RSH.
ARCH tenants will be represented on the RSH Tenant Liaison Group
alongside other national tenant organisations including the Tenant
Participation Advisory Service (TPAS), the Tenants and Residents
Association of England (TAROE) as well as the Confederation of
Co=operative Housing (CCH).
The RSH Tenant Liaison Group will consider the Regulator's plans
for Consumer Regulation, including the legislation and timetable,
development of the Regulatory Framework and approach and the
initial phase of tenant engagement as well as other issues such as
the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic and the RSH regulatory
focus, casework and forthcoming publications.
Jenny will report regularly to the ARCH Tenant Group on
discussions in the RSH Tenant Liaison Group.
Everyone at ARCH would like to pass on our congratulations to
ARCH Tenant Group member Stella Parkin on being shortlisted for a
national award at the recent TPAS Awards
2020.
Stella is Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council's tenant
representative on the ARCH Tenant Group and was shortlisted for the
Cliff Whiteley Tenant of the Year award at the annual Tenant
Participation Advisory Service (TPAS) Awards 2020. Stella was
nominated for her work in helping to celebrating and mark the
centenary of the Addison Act and 100 years of council housing.
Unfortunately, because of the Coronavirus pandemic the award
ceremony had to be held online but we are pleased to share some
photographs of Stella being acknowledged for her nomination and
shortlisting.
Congratulations Stella and well done.
We are always interested to learn about housing in our ARCH
member councils.
Jenny Hill, Chair of the ARCH Tenant Group and Mavis Vines,
Vice-Chair of the ARCH Tenant Group share the latest editions of
their respective councils' tenant newsletters from Runnymede
Borough Council and East Riding of Yorkshire Councils.
Click here to find out the latest on housing
in Runnymede Borough Council
Click here to find out the latest on
housing in the East Riding of Yorkshire Council.
If you would like to share the latest edition of your council's
tenant newsletter please email a copy or send a link to ARCH Chief
Executive John Bibby at john.bibby@arch-housing.org.uk.
Congratulations to Joan Goodwin, one of Birmingham City
Council's tenants, who was awarded an MBE in this year's Queen's
Birthday Honours for services to tenants and leaseholders in
Birmingham.
Nominees that receive a title from the Queen must display a
number of exceptional qualities: rare talent and exemplary service,
practical achievement, entrepreneurship, selfless voluntary service
- all things Joan Goodwin, has in abundance, which is why she was
awarded the MBE in this year's Queen's Birthday Honours.
Joan moved into a council maisonette when she retired from work
in 1983. From then to this day she has worked as an unpaid tenant
representative in Yardley Wood, and across the city, advocating the
rights and causes of tenants and leaseholders in her local
community for over 25 years.
Working with senior officers and elected members of the Council
motivated Joan to keep up the pressure to improve the quality of
the city's housing services. Today, at the age of 85she is the
Chair of the City Housing Liaison Board, giving a voice to 62,000
tenants from across a vast geographical and diverse area. In
addition, she is the Chair of the Performance Monitoring Group and
the Welfare Inclusion Group, and a key member of the Financial
Inclusion and Universal Credit Group. She participates in
responses to the House of Lords Select Committee, and in Council
initiatives such as the Caring Christmas Campaign and has been a
contributor at previous ARCH Tenants Conferences.
Joan has fought for the rights of tenants for over 25 years, was
instrumental in shaping policy around the ring-fenced finance
arrangements for housing and has been a major contributor to the
most recent Government consultation paper on social housing.
Widely recognised by all those she works with as one in a
million, Joan's influence on the improvement of the housing
services and the service received by tenants has been felt far and
wide. This was confirmed by Joan being awarded 'Tenant of the
Year' at the Housing Heroes Awards 2018. From successfully
tackling anti-social behaviour on her estate, introducing estate
inspections and promoting clean and green neighbourhoods, to
advocating for digital inclusion to help fellow tenants get online,
Joan's indefatigable approach to community improvement is an
example to all who meet and work with her.
Birmingham City Council, the tenants, the leaseholders, the
Elected Members and the officers all want to deliver a first-class
housing service. Joan's exceptional example of how change can
be made for the better shows that it can be done!
Here are a few examples of the wonderful work
that tenants of ARCH have been doing to help make a difference to
their communities.
ARCH is supporting this very important campaign to help change
some of the negative perceptions about people who live in social
housing.
Are you a social housing tenant or resident with a story to
share? If so, we encourage you to upload your profile to highlight
and share the good work you do for your local communities.
Read the stories of other tenants and residents of social
housing and upload your profile here.
Congratulations to Jackie Hacker from Stevenage Borough Council,
who was announced as the winner of the 2017 ARCH Community Champion
Award at this year's ARCH Tenants Conference.
Photo by Yaw Boateng: member of the ARCH Tenants'
Group
The Award recognises the commitment and hard work undertaken by
tenants of ARCH member councils to improve their local
communities.
The judging panel had a very difficult decision this year with
strong nominations from the two other shortlisted candidates:
Sheila Watkinson from the City of Lincoln Council and Pamela
Pamment from Ipswich Borough Council.
Click here for more information about
Jackie, Sheila and Pamela's achievements and the work they do for
their local community.
William 'Ted' Jones from Stevenage Borough Council, was the 2016
ARCH Community Champion award winner at our Tenants' Conference on
Thursday 22 September 2016.
The award recognises the commitment and hard work undertaken by
tenants of ARCH members to improve their local communities. The
ARCH Tenants' conference is held every year and is organised by the
ARCH Tenants' Group.
Ted joined his local residents group in 2010 and has since
successfully campaigned for several initiatives to improve his
local area including resurfacing of a road, the regeneration of a
local shopping square, setting up a new community centre and
successfully presenting the case for Decent Homes to the Select
Committee at Westminster which resulted in a grant for £55million
to provide a better living standard for tenants.
Winners of this year's ARCH Tenant Awards
were announced at the ARCH Tenant Conference in
September.
Award for Tenant of the Year was won
by Richard Macrae of Broxtowe Borough
Council: Congratulations to Richard from everyone at ARCH
and a special word for SeniaDedic of London Borough of
Wandsworth whose work in her local
community was highly commended by the judging
panel.
The Award for the council that has
done the most to encourage and support tenant empowerment went this
year to the London Borough of Croydon and again many
congratulations to all involved.
Together for Tenants is a tenant-led partnership with Hinckley
and Bosworth Borough Council that is currently involving more
council tenants in their communities and in housing service
development. The group was launched at a public event in May
2013, is fully constituted and led by a Committee elected at the
groups' Annual General Meeting in October. Activities include
a new gardening group and attendance at local events.
Towards the end of 2013, an Evaluation Team made up of Hinckley
and Bosworth tenants was recruited via an independent panel to
scrutinise the council's housing services and conduct review
projects. The eight-person team have completed initial training and
are in the process of conducting a pilot review.
Though 80% of UK households are now online,
of those without internet access, half live in social housing.
The involved tenant reps on the board helped
to design the scheme (the technicalities of how the loan worked and
the RI credits system was their idea). They also championed it for
us when it was presented to councillors.
To help address this digital exclusion,
Cambridge City Council is offering the loan of a laptop (plus 3G
dongle) to eligible tenants.
After one year they have the option to buy
the computer at half its original cost, return it to the council
(so it can be provided to another tenant) or gain credits towards
keeping the computer by taking part in activities like mystery
shopping or estate inspections.
Some examples of tenants helped by the scheme
so far:
"P" was made redundant just before Christmas, having been
employed in the catering sector for over forty years. He was
referred via Job Centre Plus, who stated that he washighly
motivated and a regular attendee at Job Club. As a result of
receiving the equipment he has continued to build on newly acquired
IT skills and has been in contact with the Independent Living
Service (ILS) about volunteering opportunities.
"F" was one of the first recipients of the scheme. She lives in
Cherry Hinton and was finding it difficult to attend Job Centre
Plus to look for employment. Using the equipment provided,she has
now found full time employment in the retail sector.
"M" is a single parent who was referred by her caseworker. Her
nine year old daughter was having difficulties keeping up with
homework. The equipment has addressed this problem and "M" has
expressed her gratitude.
"Fl" is a young woman with multiple mental health issues. She
has high level computer skills, but her existing equipment was no
longer fit for purpose. Her caseworker has stated that the loan of
newer equipment will greatly assist her in maintaining contact with
the outside world.
"H" and "C" are both tenants with mobility issues. They had
computers which were very old and temperamental. The equipment from
the scheme has allowed them to stay in touch with family and the
wider community.
Slough Borough Council istransforming the way in which they
manage their neighbourhoods and communities. They recognise
that the Right to Buy has changed the profile of housing stock
which means that tenants now live alongside the tenants of other
landlords home owners, leaseholders and shared owners.
As a local authority they have a range of powers available to
enable them to respond to problems when they occur. In
recognition of this, they have spent the past year laying the
foundations for the creation of the Neighbourhood Service,
combining their housing and enforcement teams allowing them to
utilise all powers available to manage their
neighbourhoods.
Over the coming year they will be restructuring and embedding
the concept of neighbourhood services. Whilst enforcement
action is one option available, they will continue to develop their
Tenancy Sustainment Service which works with a range of charities
and third sector organisations in Slough to provide support to
vulnerable residents who are struggling to manage their homes and
their finances.
Skelmersdale was developed as a New Town in the 1960's. There is
currently a population of around 40,000. A major consultation
exercise was undertaken in 2005 as part of the development of a
master plan for the town andresidents wanted to have a more
conventional town centre and an improved housing offer.
The vision
To create a vibrant Town Centre and to improve the housing offer
to make Skelmersdale a destination of choice. This was referred to
locally as the "Skem Vision" and has wide support by residents,
stakeholders, the council and the LEP for Lancashire.
The challenge
The original plan for Firbeck, an Estate of around 180 homes,
was earmarked for demolition in an ambitious plan to redevelop the
site together with additional land to build market homes which
would generate receipts to start the process of regenerating the
area and improving the town centre. This plan was unable to be
delivered due to a slump in the housing market.
The results
The original plan has had to be revised because of the change in
the housing market. The council, using a combination of HRA and GRF
funding have started a £5.5M public sector led schemewhich will
see:
- The area revived
- Housing benefitting from internal and external
improvements
- 60 flats demolished
- 40 replacement homes provided
- Street Scene improvements
This public sector intervention has meant that the area will be
significantly enhanced and the adjacent land will be more
attractive for development so that the vision for the town centre
can start to be delivered.
In early 2013 a tenant scrutiny panel was formed to carry out
performance monitoring and housing service review son behalf of
Epping Forest Tenants and Leaseholders Federation.
The panel's first review looked at the way complaints are
handled within the council's housing service and a report was
produced in March 2014 including fourteen recommendations for
service improvements. Among the recommendations was the appointment
of a dedicated officer to collate complaints across the
service.
Subsequently, the council has agreed the creation of a new post
of Customer Relationship Officer as recommended by the tenant
scrutiny panel with the rest of the recommendations in its report
used as the basis for the job description. The Federation is
delighted with this outcome as it shows the value of such reviews
and that the Council is willing to listen to its tenants and act
accordingly.
The South Derbyshire Dreamscheme is a way of enabling young
people to serve their community, be busy, have fun, gain new
skills, leading to a change in their attitudes and
expectations.
2014 Dreamscheme Project
Early in 2014, Dreamscheme were approached by several members of
a community to work in partnership with the Overseal Parish Council
on a redecoration project within the village hall and the revamp of
their Youth Shelter.
They were overwhelmed by the support from across the local
community and from the 22 young volunteers who were involved this
year. During the week in August those involved in the project
painted two IT suites, planted a small area, litter picked the
playing field, put in a new waste bin and designed/ painted
graffiti art on a youth shelter.
This award highlights the work that councils do to support
tenant empowerment and develop their communities and
neighbourhoods. This award is open to any local authority who
has successfully introduced a new approach during the year that has
dramatically improved its own performance and/or the lives of its
tenants.
This award recognises a council that have empowered their
tenants to be involved in both the management of their housing and
their community. For example, organisations that have:
• Demonstrated a real commitment to involving tenants in how
their services are designed, delivered and monitored
• Worked with tenants and local partner organisations to deliver
benefits for the whole community
• Developed tenants' skills and empowered them to be active in
the community
Norwich City Council
Norwich City Council's new tenant involvement structure has been
designed, tested and approved by their tenants. Alongside two
new strategic tenant panels for general needs tenants, a brand new
strategic level panel has been created for sheltered housing
tenants to ensure they have the same level if influence and
involvement. The council has several local tenant involvement
activities such as a repairs materials advisory group, mystery
shoppers, an annual report working group as well as housing fun
days and many more activities.