Acis Group Ventures Into Student Accommodation
Posted 04.02.13
Acis Group completed the purchase of 1,109 student accommodation units from the Beach Student Accommodation Fund.
Eione LLP, a new joint venture between Acis and Derwent Facilities Management, will manage the student accommodation.
This was the first venture into the student housing sector for the Lincolnshire housing association, which already owns and manages 5,400 affordable homes.
The £40 million portfolio acquisition is part of the Group's strategy to diversify into other housing markets, aimed at generating income to support core social housing activities.
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Guinness Northern Counties Gets Award for Gas Safety in Social Housing
Posted 04.02.13
A campaign to promote greater gas safety in customers' homes has resulted in an award for Guinness Northern Counties from the National Home Improvement Council (NHIC).
The Association owns and manages 26,000 homes throughout the North of England. It received the award, sponsored by the Gas Safety Trust, for a comprehensive year-round programme of activity to promote gas safety to its customers.
Among the approaches praised by the NHIC and Gas Safety Trust was a programme of works to install approximately 600 early warning systems to the homes of the Association's most vulnerable customers.
These systems are able to detect build-ups of Carbon Monoxide or combustible gas in the home, which they respond to in the form of visual and audible alarms as well as automatically shutting off the gas supply.
Carbon Monoxide (CO), known as the 'silent killer', claims as many as 50 lives in Britain each year and affects a further 4,000 people.
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Paradigm Invests in African Social Housing Project
Posted 05.02.13
A pioneering project from Paradigm Housing Group that will help bring Africa's first social housing association to life has been unveiled at the National Housing Federation Board Members Conference in Birmingham.
Working in partnership with Homeless International and The Centre for Community Initiatives (CCI), Paradigm has set up a newly-formed housing association called Affordable Housing Solutions in Tanzania.
Initially building 136 new homes for slum dwellers who have been evicted from a shantytown close to the capital city, Dar-es-Salaam, Affordable Housing Solutions will access funds for the development from a £260,000 loan from the Buckinghamshire-based housing group and £130,000 loaned by Homeless International.
Once the operations are fully functional, Affordable Housing Solutions will collect the rent, manage the community and tenancies as well as maintain and repair the homes.
Affordable Housing Solutions is developing the homes and will use the rent to repay the loans, based on the UK housing association development model used worldwide by Homeless International to address the needs of the rapidly growing urban slum communities.
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Sovereign Launches New Single Website
Posted 12.02.13
Sovereign Housing Association has launched a brand new website which will give residents and stakeholders all they need in one place.
Sovereign merged to become a single legal entity in October 2012 and the new website www.sovereign.org.uk replaces the five sites of the former group and subsidiaries.
Through the website, residents will easily be able to access the MySovereign self-service portal, allowing them to pay their rent, log a repair and access information about their tenancy.
There will also be news and events specific to each of Sovereign's regions, advice on a range of issues and a new careers area.
n the coming months, Sovereign will be introducing further enhancements to the site, as well as a smart phone-friendly version.
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Pay Rise for Board Members Outstrips NHF Guidelines
Posted 13.02.13
Bedfordshire Pilgrims Housing Association (BPHA) has increased the pay for five of its non-executive board members by 40%.
Its latest financial statement reveals the payments increased in total from £94,756 in 2011 to £132,666 last year.
The Chair and other board members now earn an average of £26,500 each. The payment to the Chair is possibly considerably higher.
The latest National Housing Federation (NHF) guidelines were published in 2008. They state that organisations the size of BPHA - about 16,000 homes and an annual turnover of £77 million - should pay their chair £15,000 and other board members £6,000.
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£50 Blitz on GHA Communities
Posted 15.02.13
Glasgow Housing Association (GHA) is launching a £50 million blitz to bring every one of its communities up to scratch.
Tenants are at the heart of GHA's ambitious plans - and are being asked to help raise environmental standards by grading their communities and agreeing how they can be improved.
With the help of tenants, it is hoped all GHA communities across Glasgow will reach the new 'Gold' standard and become some of the most sought-after neighbourhoods in the City.
Residents are being invited to join panels - called Local Environmental Action Forums (LEAF) - to score their neighbourhoods Gold, Silver or Bronze and build an action plan to reach the highest standard. The new forums will be looking at issues including the cleanliness of back courts, closes and foyers and the state of grassy areas around homes.
GHA will listen to their recommendations and its environmental teams will take the action needed to bring communities up to scratch.
The aim is not only to make neighbourhoods spick and span but to make them places people are proud to live in.
The plan is for tenants to help every GHA neighbourhood reach the Gold Standard within three years.
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Three Worcester Associations Discuss Possible Merger
Posted 18.02.13
Three housing associations based in Worcester - Festival Housing, Rooftop Housing and Worcester Community Housing - are reported to be considering ways of working together to achieve savings.
Whilst a merger is not out of the question, other options are open for discussion - including arrangements for shared services and viable strategic partnerships.
The three associations currently employ over 800 staff have a history of working together. A full merger would create a single group with 20,000 homes and a turnover of about £100 million.
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Bond Issue Raises £85 Million for Three Associations
Posted 20.02.13
Three housing associations - North Hertfordshire Homes, Paradigm Housing and Teign Housing in Devon - have raised a combined £85 million from the first bond issue by capital markets aggregator GB Social Housing.
They are the first landlords to raise capital through GB Social Housing since it launched in 2010.
Paradigm Housing took a £50 million share of the capital raised by the 25-year, £89.3 million bond. Teign Housing's share was £25 million and North Hertfordshire Homes had £10 million.
The remaining £3.9 million will be held as a 'liquidity reserve' against one of the borrowers being unable to make a loan repayment.
