Fairness Beats 'Birthright' in Social Housing Allocation
12th April 2012
People want fair rules for housing, and believe that local links and having a stake in the community are more important than someone's country of birth when it comes to allocating social housing, a new YouGov poll commissioned by Metropolitan Migration Foundation has found.
Most people think that birthplace is irrelevant and people should be treated fairly when it comes to qualifying for social housing. Two-thirds of the 2000 people polled said this should either not make a difference (48%) or should actually increase someone's chances (18%) of qualifying. Only (22%) said that someone should be less priority if they were born outside of the UK. Whilst 46% said if someone has lived locally for more than two years they should be prioritised for housing in that area, there was no clear evidence that someone's employment status should be grounds for priority.
The poll revealed evidence for giving more priority to people with a disability (81%), who have dependents (62%) and for households earning less than the average national income (47%).
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Great Places First Northern Housing Group to Achieve Positive Credit Rating
23rd April 2012
Manchester-based Great Places Housing Group (GPHG) is the first exclusively northern-based housing association to achieve positive credit ratings from two ratings agencies - Moody's and Fitch.
Moody's rated Aa3 stating that the rating "reflects the strong cash flows that Great Places Housing Group generates from a stable and growing foundation of low-risk social housing letting".
Fitch assigned the not-for-profit organisation a long-term local and foreign currency ratings of AA- and a short-term local currency rating of F1+, saying the outlook "reflects GPHG's expected growth in revenues in the near term along with a prudent business plan."
Moody's also noted GPHG's moderate debt levels (around 4.3 times revenue and 35% of assets at year end 2011) compared with most of its peers and that low-risk social housing letting contributed to the bulk of its revenue and surplus in 2011.
The ratings assessment is another step in GPHG's funding strategy as the organisation works with its advisers towards a bond issue later in 2012.
In 2007, GPHG secured a £315 million refinancing deal from four leading banks. Its intended move into the bonds market quickly follows L & Q, Amicus Horizon and others - which have also issued own-name bonds, while bond aggregator The Housing Finance Corporation has regularly issued 'tap' bonds during 2012, bringing the total raised by social landlords on the capital markets this year close to £1 billion.
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Sovereign takes on management of Oxfordshire Properties
24th April 2012
Sovereign Housing Association has taken on the management of 285 properties in Vale of White Horse, Oxfordshire, owned by Thames Valley Housing Association.
The homes, a mixture of rented and shared ownership properties, are mostly in the Wantage area, with some in Abingdon.
Ian Gilders, Sovereign's Regional Director for Oxfordshire, said:
"Sovereign has a well-established presence in Oxfordshire, with offices in Wantage and Abingdon and our property services team based in East Hanney.
"This move makes sense with regard to delivering a quicker, more responsive service for the residents and to achieving better value for money.
"Residents were consulted about the change and were very largely happy with it, which indicates their understanding of why the management of these properties is being transferred."
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A Great Place to Work - Again!
26th April 2012
Hanover (Scotland) Housing Association has again been named among the top "Best Workplaces in Scotland" by the Great Places to Work Institute.
The scheme honours and recognises organisations that have achieved outstanding effectiveness in HR and people excellence. This is the second time the Best Workplaces Programme has been run in Scotland. Hanover finished tenth and is the only social landlord to appear in this year's top 20.
Participating organisations gained a detailed insight into the quality of their workplaces, making improvements if required and helping to attract new talent by highlighting the aspects that compare well against other employers.
Staff completed a short questionnaire about their experience of their working conditions/environment and senior staff also completed a culture audit survey. The Great Place to Work Institute analysed the data and ranked all organisations participating in the scheme, based on the combined scores of the employee survey and management questionnaire.
