The National Housing Federation published a new directory giving up-to-date information on almost 1,300 housing associations in England.
The Federation's Directory of Members 2008 covers all of the housing associations in its membership. Between them, the associations listed in the Directory own or manage over two million properties, providing homes for around five million people.
The Directory book and online resource provide contact details for each housing association as well as a brief description of their activities, including the number of homes managed and staffing levels.
Browsers of the online Directory get immediate access to a wealth of member data, including key contact information and links to housing association websites. It is possible to search data by region, number of units managed or organisation, using simple or advanced search options.
The Riverside Group won the top prize at the Housing Excellence Awards by collecting up the award for 'Social Landlord of the Year'.
Performance targets considered by judges included enhancing resident involvement, promoting safe and secure communities, tackling antisocial behaviour, responding to homelessness and social exclusion and supporting local employment initiatives.
Riverside Group is celebrating its 80th anniversary this year. It was also recognised for its open, accessible and responsive customer service and its commitment to partnership working.
The Housing Corporation directed Black Roof Community Housing Association (BRCHA) to transfer its land to ASRA Greater London Housing Association (ASRA). The transfer follows a statutory inquiry which found mismanagement in BRCHA's affairs.
The transfer, which has received the consent of the Secretary of State, will take place under the terms of Paragraph 27 of Schedule 1 to the Housing Act 1996.
The Corporation's Board decided that the management of BRCHA's land would be improved by a statutory transfer to ASRA. A statutory transfer would protect the interests of BRCHA's tenants and leaseholders and bring certainty and security in the long term. It would ensure that the substantial sum of public funds invested in BRCHA is, and remains secure and protects the interests of other key stakeholders.
The Housing Corporation announced that it has removed St Matthew Housing, which manages around 690 supported housing homes in the East of England and East Midlands, from supervision.
The Corporation placed St Matthew Housing under supervision in October 2007 because of concerns about its governance and viability. The Corporation used its statutory power to make three appointments to the board of the company.
In response, St Matthew's board undertook a review of its strategy for the future of the company and concluded that its residents would best be served if it entered into a partnership with a larger, financially strong, social housing provider. As a result it agreed to join the Genesis Housing Group as a subsidiary of Springboard Housing Association. The subsidiary arrangement has now taken effect and the statutory appointees are standing down from the board of St Matthew.
Peabody Trust launched the first London-wide online lettings and sales service based on customer choice.
Social housing applicants can see the full range of properties available, where they are located and how much they will cost to rent or buy.
Residents can apply online for any home to which they are matched. Bidders in the greatest need will then be invited to view vacant homes so that they can decide if the home is right for them.
This approach of letting homes driven by customer choice is radically different from the traditional way of allocating social housing via a waiting list.
Peabody's non-social rented homes are also listed. These range from the re-sale of current homes to new homes under the Government-sponsored New Build Homebuy scheme. ,p>Also included are properties that are on the market for key workers.
A new hi-tech way of allocating work is helping St. Leger Homes save time and money and improve services to tenants, with the launch an initiative called Optitime for its repairs service. It works by allocating appointments to its workforce by postcode, so that there is less travelling between appointments.
Later in the year a further initiative called 'mobile working' is going to be introduced to increase efficiency even more.
'Mobile working' is where tradesmen and women have a handheld computer and jobs are sent through to this from the company's call centre. With the appointment is an electronic job sheet, which can be filled in at the tenant's home on the small computer - stopping paperwork and saving time.
Residents in Cumbria can now access information on housing services from their local library, due to a donation of reference books by Copeland Homes.
The books include titles such as Resident Involvement, Housing Jargon and Landlord and Tenant - a practical guide. They are registered on the library systems and will be available form the libraries in Whitehaven, Cleator Moor, Egremont and Millom. People will also be able to sign them out and read them at home.
Reference sheets from The Tenant Participatory Advisory Service on such diverse topics such as energy efficiency, fundraising and antisocial behaviour are also available from libraries in Copeland.
