Housing Minister Yvette Cooper announced that a new social housing watchdog that will crack down on registered social landlords in England who are giving tenants a poor service, such as long waits for repairs, is being established as an independent, standalone body.
The new organisation - the Office for Tenants and Social Landlords - will have the powers to back up tenants of registered social landlords when they report poor service.
This new body will replace the role currently played by the Housing Corporation. The decision to establish the social housing regulator as an independent body follows consultation with industry. It will give it a greater focus on protecting the needs of tenants while freeing good social landlords from red tape. The current system is not designed to release regulatory burdens from social landlords who are performing well, nor to intervene if tenant groups complain about the service they receive.
The new watchdog is the key recommendation accepted by the Government from the 'Cave Review of Social Housing' in June. Under the new system, tenants' groups will be able to alert the regulator to poor service. The regulator will then have the authority to impose a wide range of penalties and sanctions on failing social landlords, including the power to trigger a change of management, and to help ensure tenants receive a good service.
Lenders, social landlords and tenant groups argued for the new regulator to be a standalone body. The Government agreed this would ensure the confidence of lenders and support the expansion of new homes.
The Government also announced that an independently chaired advisory panel will carry out further work with stakeholders in order to bring local authorities under the scope of the watchdog within two years of it coming into operation.
Other key recommendations accepted by the Government under the Cave Review include:
The London Boroughs of Croydon and Havering are the latest areas that have agreed to take part in a Housing Corporation pilot project looking at whether stock rationalisations will achieve improved services for tenants who live in their area. They join a list that includes Manchester and South Hampshire to examine property management.
The projects forms part of an initiative of the Housing Corporation, that aims to get housing associations in England to explore the potential for rationalisation.
A CIH report commissioned by the Housing Corporation in March 2007 called on housing associations to examine their patterns of property ownership and management to ensure they meet key objectives. The Corporation also published a toolkit to support housing associations in this area.
Projects are to be run in New Addington and Fieldway areas in Croydon and Harold Hill in Havering. All three areas have a number of housing associations managing homes within them and are they are all undergoing ambitious plans for regeneration. In each case the local authority will work closely with the housing associations to consider whether stock rationalisation will achieve improved services for tenants who live in the area.
Winners of the Housing Corporation's Gold Awards 2007 showcased their skills and experiences at a knowledge sharing conference in Watford. The Gold Award knowledge sharing events are aimed at housing providers who seek to improve their performance, or begin working in previously uncharted territory.
The Gold Award competition for housing associations has two new themes: Empowering Communities and Environmental Sustainability. Each winning association receives a prize of £50,000 to help fund their involvement in a year long programme of knowledge dissemination.
The three winners under the competition's environmental sustainability theme - Drum Housing Association, Greenoak Housing Association and Places for People Group - were on hand to provide delegates with the chance to find what they did to earn their awards and offer advice and tips.
A key focus of the day was to identifying common issues, develop shared solutions, overcoming barriers and develop strong peer networks. Conference delegates also had the opportunity to take part in interactive workshops. Event highlights included the chance to visit BRE Innovation Park.
The winners of the Gold Award 2007 environmental sustainability theme were:
Local authority inspection reports issued by the Audit Commission during October included the following:
Kensington and Chelsea Borough Council (Supporting People): Three-star excellent service with excellent prospects for improvement.
Hugh Boatswain, the Commission's lead housing inspector in London, said:
"The range of services we inspected showed a number of strengths and few weaknesses. We found a strong ownership of the Supporting People programme with some excellent services provided for the Borough's most vulnerable residents. The Council has a strong track record in delivering improvements and there is a willingness to address weaknesses and to learn from others."
Weaknesses identified in the report include:
Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council (Supporting People): Three-star excellent service with excellent prospects for improvement.
The inspection report notes that:
Registered social landlord inspection reports issued by the Audit Commission during October included the following:
Wakefield and District Housing (Housing Management): Three-star excellent service with excellent prospects for improvement.
Yvonne Davies, the Audit Commission's Head of Housing for the North said:
"Wakefield and District Housing deserves recognition as the north's first three-star housing association. Its achievement is all the more remarkable as the organisation is just over two years old. We found a range of good services, with significant strengths in customer focus, regeneration, major repairs and value for money. The Association benefits from a strong sense of purpose and its place in the community. Leadership is strong, the organisation has good links with others working in the community and has made rapid progress in meeting its aims."
Scottish Borders Council was awarded a 'fair' rating for its homelessness services. This follows an inspection in June 2007 by inspectors from Communities Scotland in its role as the housing regulator.
Scottish Borders Council is the sixth largest council in Scotland by area and the service is delivered from an office in Jedburgh, with appointments offered to people in five other centres across its area.
All of the homes owned by Scottish Borders Council were transferred to not-for-profit landlord, Scottish Borders Housing Association, in March 2003, and this means the Council has to work closely with partner organisations to solve homelessness.
In 2005/06 the Council experienced a 23% increase in the number of people applying to it for assistance under the Homeless Persons legislation. In 2006 it also carried out a major restructuring of the service and began a programme of improvements in its homelessness services.
