Housing Minister Caroline Flint announced that tenants will have the opportunity to reward good practice and take action against poor social landlords, as she launched the recruitment for the board of the new social housing regulator, the Tenant Services Authority.
The Minister called for two social housing tenants to come forward to apply for two of the four new positions on the board of the Tenant Services Authority, the new name for the Office for Social Tenants and Landlords, when it opens for business at the end of this year.
When created by the Housing and Regeneration Bill currently before Parliament, the regulator will be able to identify which landlords are providing a good service to their tenants and reward them accordingly, by cutting red tape through reducing the number of routine inspections or the amount of paperwork.
The regulator will be able to demand action against landlords who provide a poor service, calling for compensation for tenants suffering poor service, or in extreme cases change the landlord altogether.
Board members will be able to have a direct say on the regulation of social landlords, setting clear standards so that tenants and landlords both know what to level of service to expect. They will need a wide range of skills and experience and will be selected from a range of backgrounds across the private and public sector to ensure that tenants' perspectives are represented.
The recently appointed Tenant Services Authority Chair, Anthony Mayer said:
"The Tenant Services Authority will have a crucial part to play in ensuring that social tenants get a good deal and I would like to encourage people to join me in tackling this challenge by applying for board member positions."
A new project was launched at the Chartered Institute of Housing Federation Conference, which aims to improve the involvement of residents in all aspects of housing and housing delivery.
Building on the success of the Improving Housing Services by Involving Tenants Beacons of 2007, this project has established a resident involvement champion within each English region. Either a local authority, or local authority and its arms length management organisation partner, will be taking on the role of resident involvement champion to support all housing organisations in improving the way they involve their tenants and residents.
The champions' residents will also be acting as peers to other residents to raise their ability to shape their communities.
The Resident Involvement Champions project has been funded by the Communities and Local Government Peer Support programme. It has been made possible by the Improvement and Development Agency's Strategic Housing programme.
The Resident Involvement Champions are:
Each RIC will develop support tailored to the region and this may include:
The champions will also be meeting regularly to share information and ensure a national picture is maintained.