Resident accountability must be at the heart of housing association governance, according to Housing Corporation Chief Executive Jon Rouse, who signalled a new approach to tenant engagement for housing associations in his recent speech at the TPAS National Consultative Forum in Birmingham.
The announcement follows the independent Elton Review on Regulatory and Compliance Requirements for RSLs, commissioned by the Housing Corporation and chaired by Sir Les Elton, which included recommendations on tenant involvement.
Jon Rouse announced that:
Jon Rouse also announced a crackdown on associations not implementing resident involvement: "It is unacceptable for any association not to take resident involvement seriously. As the sector's regulator, we will not shirk from responding if associations fail to involve residents. I want to make this a clear signal about the importance that we place on genuine, meaningful involvement."
More than 40 tenants from 12 of the country's 59 ALMOs met MPs, including Housing Minister Yvette Cooper, at the House of Commons. The event was organised by the National Federation of ALMOs (NFA), which is the body representing individual Arms Length Management Organisations (ALMOs) managing council properties around the country.
The event profiled the merits of genuine tenant involvement in council housing programmes. As well as meeting tenants, Yvette Cooper MP gave the key note speech.
Representatives from Stockton, Kensington and Chelsea, Hounslow, Derby, Kirklees, Rochdale, Sheffield, Carrick, Bolton, Wigan & Leigh, Brent, and Solihull attended the event. There were speeches from tenant representatives, including the Chairman of the NFA - tenant and Chair of Derby Homes, Dennis Rees.
ALMOs manage 895,000 council properties across the country. This figure is set to grow to 1 million by the end of 2006. In the four years since they were established, ALMOs have brought over 100,000 homes up to the Government's Decent Homes Standard. The first ALMOs have achieved this across their entire housing portfolio five years ahead of the 2010 target date.
To ensure that ALMOs and their residents continue to have a voice in the housing debate at Westminster, an all-party Parliamentary Group for ALMOs has been proposed. Its aim will be to promote the benefits and further development of ALMOs.
The Group will provide a forum for discussion about issues relevant to the development of ALMOs, including securing adequate funding to further enhance housing standards after 2010, increasing the amount of social housing available after new build and improving communities and local environments through safer, cleaner, greener neighbourhoods.
