In May 2006, we reported on the launch of Broadland HA's new mobile housing office - a specially commissioned Ford Transit high roof vehicle. A year later, we asked the Association to update us on the background to the initiative and progress to date. The following is Broadland's own report on their Vision Bus project - as at May 2007.
Broadland Housing may operate across rural Norfolk and North Suffolk, but it is determined to be as accessible to its customers as possible. The Association operates out of four offices - Kings Lynn, Dereham, Norwich and Lowestoft - but recognises that for many of its tenants none of these locations are really convenient, due to limited public transport connections and limited access to private transport.
In 2005, the Association made the decision that if tenants found it difficult to come to them, it needed to go out to tenants. In early 2006, a transit van was acquired for conversion into a mobile office; and in June of last year it hit the road. Called "The Vision Bus," the transit has been adapted and now provides a range of facilities to allow the staff team to take services directly to customers.
The launch of the mobile office was a logical progression from Broadland's "out and about" campaign. In 2004, the Association made the commitment to visit every property and knock on the front door of every tenant over a three-year period. This project was completed in 2006, and now Broadland has begun doing it all over again. However, one of the points of feedback received from tenants was they not only appreciated the efforts made by the Association through the "out and about" campaign, but would welcome regular village and even hamlet surgeries to help them avoid the costs of visiting one of the area offices.
The Vision Bus now has a regular programme of visits to villages across Norfolk and North Suffolk where Broadland owns properties. It helps the Association be more accessible to its residents and also complements estate management inspections and rent arrears campaigns. It also provides more comfortable surroundings when signing up new tenants at new developments and is used by the Association for other community initiatives and resident participation projects.
There is no doubt that the Vision Bus is a cost effective means of providing local office facilities in dispersed rural areas. The provision of sufficient local offices across Norfolk was not cost effective for the Association. Instead the Association takes an office to tenants, thus ensuring value for money in providing accessible local services. Tenants can still request visits from their neighbourhood team members at different times convenient to them, but this service has been popular and successful and has encouraged tenants (and other members of the community) to engage with Broadland staff about either their tenancy or issues relating to housing within the community.
For more information please contact Russell Heath, Resident Participation Officer, on 01603 750236 or at russell.heath@broadlandhousing.gov
In June 2002 we were reporting:
A new report from the Audit Commission concludes that the Government needs to do more to ensure efficient and timely payments of Housing Benefit.
The report argues that, despite a fall in the number of claimants, the service has worsened overall in the last five years. Only 63% of claimants get their Benefit decided within the 14-day target set by the Government. Even good authorities can take an average of 36 days to process a new claim from start to finish. Most councils find the whole system, which is laid down by central government, complex and difficult to administer...
Barbara Roche, Minister of State in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, announced an extra £22.5 million to fund 300 more wardens in crime hot spots across the country.
Building on the success of the Neighbourhood and Street Wardens programme, 30 new schemes will begin patrols from September. Government Officers, in conjunction with Regional Crime Directors, will be working to identify potential areas for wardens within the police service areas of the Met, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Liverpool, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Thames Valley, Nottinghamshire, Avon and Somerset, and the West Midlands...
The Government demonstrated its commitment to eliminating the use of bed and breakfast (B&B) accommodation for homeless families with children by March 2004, with almost £25 million being allocated to the 44 local authorities with the highest levels of B&B hotel use.
Statistics published during the month show that around 11,000 children are being brought up in B&B hotels, with two thirds of families accommodated for periods longer than six weeks. This costs local authorities over £320 per family, per week. The funding will ensure that over next year, 7,000 families will either move out of, or never end up in, B&B hotels...
Shelter called on the Government to tackle the acute shortage of housing through more investment in affordable homes. The call followed the release of official figures that revealed an all time high of 81,260 homeless households living in temporary accommodation in England, of which 11,800 households live in bed and breakfast hotels...
Glasgow-based Ardenglen HA, Glen Oaks HA, and Wellhouse Housing Co-op launched Scotland's first gold service tenant loyalty scheme. The scheme is similar to the pathfinder Irwell Valley scheme, with tenants rewarded for keeping to the terms of their tenancy. The associations are seeking funding from Communities Scotland to monitor the success of the scheme...
The Chief Executive of Irwell Valley HA outlined his Association's plans to introduce a new tenant loyalty scheme to supersede its Gold Service scheme. Tom Manion was speaking at the Chartered Institute of Housing's annual conference about Irwell Valley's plans to introduce a Diamond Service scheme, which would be offered to tenants who have been Gold Service users for at least two years without any tenancy breaches...
In June 2006 we were reporting:
As part of the Respect programme, John Hutton, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, announced the Government intends to pilot a scheme that ensures people who are evicted as a result of anti-social behaviour undertake rehabilitation.
The new measure will sanction Housing Benefit where a person has been evicted for anti-social behaviour and refuses to address their behaviour using the support and help offered to them...
Responding to the welfare reform green paper, the Department for Work and Pensions confirmed the Government will not be taking forward legislation to extend the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) approach to the social housing sector. This signals the demise of the controversial proposal to pay Housing Benefit direct to social housing tenants...
The Building Research Establishment (BRE), in collaboration with the Housing Corporation, launched EcoHomes XB. Designed to enable property managers and landlords to assess the environmental efficiency of their stock, the assessment will help identify potential for improvement, and measure improvement when works have been carried out...
New research highlights the vital contribution that housing associations make to the economy and quality of life in the North of England. Northern Lights, commissioned by the National Housing Federation North and funded by the Housing Corporation, was launched at the Chartered Institute of Housing conference, in Harrogate. The report reveals that housing association investment in the North goes far beyond bricks and mortar...
Castle Vale Community Housing Association took the unusual decision to run a radio advertising campaign to encourage residents to adopt more eco-friendly ways. The campaign will be funded by a £16,100 award from the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs' £4 million Climate Challenge Fund...
Barratt Homes made history by becoming the first private house builder to secure funding from the Housing Corporation to build subsidised affordable homes in England. The Housing Corporation made an initial award of £4.37 million to Barratt Homes to build 153 affordable homes in the North West and Midlands...
Celebrity scientist Professor Heinz Wolff unveiled a collection of leading edge equipment and technologies that will allow elderly and disabled people to live at home independently.
The inventor cut the ribbon on a show home in London containing mobility aids and Telecare - a communications technology that uses a telephone network as a remote means of monitoring someone in their home...
Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Ruth Kelly announced an independent assessment of social housing, which is to be led by Professor John Hills.
In her speech at the Chartered Institute of Housing's annual conference, Ms Kelly said social housing should help people to get on in life. She also called on every local authority and housing association to consider taking up the Social Homebuy scheme, which enables tenants to become part-owners of properties without leaving their own communities...
The Housing Corporation launched a Northern Housing Challenge to stimulate creative thinking and produce innovation. The Northern Housing Challenge is designed to find new housing-led projects that will help shrink the North's annual £30 billion output shortfall (compared to the South).
The Northern Housing Challenge has two objectives:
The Housing Corporation announced it will meet all 48 of the recommendations directed at it in the Elton Report within 12 months, in one of the largest single deregulation packages ever offered to part of the non-profit making sector. It is anticipated that this will remove at least 10% from the cost of regulation for over 1,500 housing associations across England over the next 12 months alone...