cih eastern region annual review 2011

Eastern

Chartered Institute of Housing

Eastern Region

www.cih.org your work is our business

A year of change, challenge and opportunity

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In my introduction to last year’s review I wrote of the momentous changes that were starting to impact upon the housing world. A year on and the changes are in full flow and the picture is a little clearer. The Welfare Reform Bill and the Localism Bill have almost completed their passage through Parliament and will lead to major changes in housing and other benefits, a complete reform of our planning system and a wholesale decentralisation of power to local communities.

EAstERn REgIon AnnuAL RevIeW 2011

The ‘affordable’ rents programme is up and running, although there are still disputes between housing associations and local authorities over rent levels in some areas. Regional structures have been dismantled and a slimmed down TSA is rejoining the HCA.

For the CIH this has also been another year of change. In September we were all saddened by the premature death of our Chief executive Sarah Webb at the age of 49. Sarah made a huge impact upon the housing sector and the fact that she carried on working almost until the very end of her life only serves to highlight her courage and her dedication. She will be missed.

After a lengthy period of consultation, the CIH also put into place new arrangements for governance and membership.

In the eastern region we continue to organise a wide range of successful

A year of change, challenge and opportunity

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events, including our ever-popular lunch and learn sessions. A Policy event in June attracted a sell-out audience to hear Alistair McIntosh, Abi Davies and others speak on localism and resident involvement issues. Our annual conference, held at the Stansted Radisson for the first time, was a great success and we will meet there again this year. Our vice Chair, Gill Cook, also organised a successful study trip to Ireland in May. More details on all of these events, and more, can be found inside this review.

Last year I wrote about our support for the new housing degree course at ARu in Cambridge. This course is now up and running, with over twenty students now enrolled.

Once again, I would like to thank all of the members of the Committee for their voluntary enthusiasm and effort over the past year, particularly Gill Cook and all of the officers of the Committee. Thanks also to Jayne Anderson our regional support officer, and Denise Osborne and her conference team at Coventry.

Colin Wiles, Chair Eastern Region Committee

Contents2 Chair’s report

4 Conference report 2010 - The sky’s the limit! Striving for excellence

6 There is such a thing as a free Lunch!

7 Policy and Practice Review 2011

8 Study Trip to Ireland 2011

10 Tour of Spitalfields

11 education Officer’s report

12 Treasurer’s Report

13 CIH eastern Region Accounts at 31st December 2010

14 equality and Diversity Conference

16 Chief Officers’ event

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the sky’s the limit! striving for excellence

It’s that time of the year again – when the chair asks officers to write their annual report. For the conference lead, that means writing about the 2010 conference a month before the current conference is about to start!

So here goes. 2010 was our first year at Stansted, so we were very nervous about whether things would go okay – but we had no need to worry. 95% of delegates rated the conference as very good or good and 90% rated it as good value for money – an excellent result in difficult financial times.

We met just 6 months into the new coalition government in 2010, so we were all grappling with tightening budgets, developing local offers with tenants and working through an

ever-changing environment. During the debates, we asked: Are we in recovery? How well are we doing? Are we meeting our customers’ needs? And how can we unlock our customers’ and employees’ potential? A host of speakers – some more challenging and controversial than others – shared their thoughts on these questions and more. Alastair Campbell, who closed our conference on day two comes to mind, sharing his thoughts on how we can raise the profile of our sector in a very thought-provoking and lively session. He was not afraid to say what he thought, even tweeting about his time at the conference later that evening!

The conference dinner was well attended (so much so that this year we are taking over the wine tower

ConFEREnCE REpoRt 2010

Photo Phil Mynott


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area!) and the quiz on the Wednesday evening attracted teams from around the region as well as those staying at the hotel, so get your team together and try to remember those interesting facts that come up as questions!

Our upcoming 2011 conference is, as usual, a must for everyone in the region. I am pleased this year to see more tenants, councillors and board members attending, something I hope will continue in future years – the programme we offer is varied to suit everyone on different days. The conference is not just about learning, but also an opportunity to network, meet up with old friends and make new ones, so we look forward to seeing you all in 2011.

tracey Cassidy,Conference Lead

Alastair Campbell Photo Phil Mynott

there is such a thing as a free lunch! Lunch and learn are our series of free lunch time sessions for housing staff. We hold each session three times in different locations so that people can come easily from work. The format is a speaker or speakers followed by questions and a simple sandwich lunch with the chance to network.

Paul O’Connor from CIH and Mary Graham from CFeB presented the February lunch and learn session to provide us with information on Financial Inclusion. The sessions included the latest thinking on Financial Inclusion in housing, making the business case for Financial Inclusion and early intervention

in housing, sharing good practice from across the uK and likely developments in 2011.

Gail Sykes of Buckles gave us her usual fascinating presentation on all the latest in housing law for our May sessions. She covered the equality Act 2010, the Localism Bill and especially the impact of tenancy strategies, affordable rents and flexible tenancies, proposed changes to ASB and the latest updates on case law.

The September sessions were a practitioner focussed event on scrutiny and tenant panels within individual organisations. The speaker was Damian Roche, Operations Director HQn who is leading their work on tenant panels. These were a fascinating series of events on the practicalities of tenant panels and led to a lot of questions and discussion.

Attendances across the three events ranged from over a 100 to over 150 for the legal sessions with several sessions being standing room only. next year we hope to repeat the legal update, have a session on older persons housing and at least one further event. I am always interested in hearing ideas for topics particularly if you have ideas for a good speaker to cover them.

John Wheeldon, Lunch and Learn Organiser

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policy and practice Review 2011Once again housing policy has been hot news in 2011!

Not only has there been a number of sweeping proposals for social housing reform, but the localism agenda (which includes changes to the regulatory framework and a new emphasis on tenant scrutiny) and welfare reform will have a huge impact on our sector.

At the same time affordability has continued to be a huge problem, with first-time buyers without the benefit of a hefty deposit having almost no chance of getting their feet on the property ladder for the foreseeable future.

The many newsletter articles and events held by our Committee this year (kicking off with our excellent regional conference last november) has covered a broad range of the key issues and our policy event, held

in Cambridge in June provided an opportunity for housing professionals from our region to get to grips with the latest regulatory challenges.

Once again the event had a ‘sell out’ audience, attracted by high calibre speakers including Alistair McIntosh (Chief executive, Housing Quality network), Abi Davies (Asst Director of Policy, CIH), Carole Herries (Housing

Strategy, St edmundsbury Borough Council), and neil Talbot (Tenant Services Authority). Of great interest during the event was a delegation of tenants and officers who presented lively and informative workshops on a pilot multi-landlord Resident Scrutiny Panel which has been launched in the Welwyn Hatfield Borough.

With the anticipated implementation to housing legislation and welfare reform I look forward to another busy year in 2012!

“The key challenge for me this year was to make sure our members in the eastern region were kept up to date on all the latest ‘happenings’, to complement the work of the CIH nationally.”simone Russell, Policy Officer

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study trip to Ireland 2011

In May 2011, 15 Eastern Region members set off for this year’s study trip to Belfast. On arrival, our

first morning was spent on a tour of the city, given by the Northern Ireland Housing Executive. Anne, our guide, gave an excellent tour which included lots of detailed local knowledge. The highlights included where Titanic was built, many of the city’s murals and the famous Falls and Shankill Road area.

From here, we went on to meet with Clanmil Housing Association and Collette Moore, the Director of Housing

showed us some of their developments. We saw an eco-estate where they had bought 17 properties and some “shared futures” properties, allocated regardless of religious or cultural background.

The following morning we visited six houses in Madrid Street built by Habitat for Humanity. They were sold as shared ownership but instead of the owners having to find money for the deposit, they were able to contribute 300 hours working on the development instead.

At a lunch kindly hosted by CIH northern Ireland, we met Paddy Gray who was the CIH President at the time and Ann Gallagher, Chair of the nI Board. We heard from Paula Quigley, another nI Board Member, about the work she does with Smartmove, a charitable

By gill Cook, vice Chair

Madrid Street dev

elopment An East Belfast mural

Bombay Street

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organisation that supports homeless and vulnerably housed people to access private rented accommodation. They are given support to help them maintain their tenancies.

In the afternoon, our timing couldn’t have been better. We arrived at Stormont to be directed into the public gallery just as Peter Robinson was elected as First Minister and Martin McGuinness was elected as Deputy First Minister. Amidst all the press, we had time to marvel at the Great Hall before spending some time in the Senate Chamber hearing about the history of Stormont and how parliament operated. We were even lucky enough to have a visit from Sammy Wilson of the Democratic unionist Party (DuP) who came to chat to us just ahead of him being elected as Finance Minister.

Our third day was spent in Dublin, mainly with The Iveagh Trust, a homeless charity, once part of the Guinness Trust. After an introduction

to the Trust and viewing some of its flats, we saw the “Museum Flat”. The same family had occupied this property for many years and had declined offers to renovate it, preferring to keep it in its current state with no individual bathroom or kitchen. After the tenant’s death, The Trust decided to keep it like this and with permission from the family, personal belongings such as photographs are still held there. After a visit to some of the Trust’s redesigned sheltered flats, we spent the rest of the day visiting places of our own choice before meeting up for a final “study trip” dinner in a Dublin restaurant.

Saturday was our final day and after a few hours free time, it was time to head back to the airport.

I am grateful to all those people in Belfast and Dublin who gave their time to make this trip such a success and to the committee for agreeing to subsidise the trip and therefore making it possible for more people.

study trip to Ireland 2011

StormontBombay Street

The museum flat

tour of spitalfields Our annual business planning day took place at the CIH office in London in August. During the morning, we undertook a housing study tour of the Spitalfields area of East London, an area that embraces over 2,000 years of history.

Our starting point was the Kindertransport statue at Liverpool Street station, erected to mark the arrival of 10,000 Jewish children who escaped nazi persecution in 1938 and 1939. The statue symbolises the fact that this part of east London has always been a place of arrival for successive waves of immigrants over hundreds of years, ranging from the Huguenots in the seventeenth century, Jewish immigrants in the nineteenth and twentieth century and people from Bangladesh in more recent times. The Hugueonots fled persecution by Louis XIv after the revocation of the Treaty of nantes in 1685 and they brought with them their expertise in silk weaving.

Many weavers’ houses are still to be seen in the streets to the east

of Liverpool Street, with well-lit loft spaces, alongside some of the finest Georgian houses to be found anywhere in London. Several synagogues still exist in the area. Some churches started life as Methodist chapels, then became synagogues and are now Mosques,

reflecting the waves of populations that have passed through the area.

Stephanie McDonald from the Spitalfields Housing Association kindly showed us around some of their properties, including a converted police station that had once housed the Kray brothers. We ended our tour at the Boundary estate in Shoreditch where we were able to gain access to a Spitalfield HA flat. This was the very first estate built

by the London County Council in 1900 and stands on the site of the Old nichol, one of the most notorious slum areas of London, which was immortalised in Arthur Morrison’s brilliant novel of 1896, “A Child of the Jago”.

All in all, this was an interesting insight into the housing history of east London.


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Education officer’s Report Anglia Ruskin University’s Foundation Degree in Management of Social and Affordable Housing has received accreditation from CIH. The validation panel met in February 2011 at ARU Cambridge campus to hear the evidence from the tutors and a selection of employers. The panel read through detailed and thorough material describing the course that had been prepared.

The panel interviewed tutors and employers, reaching a decision later that day to confirm the course could be validated and would be recognised as an accredited CIH course.

The first intake of students started in May followed by a second intake in September to achieve over 20 now successfully enrolled on the degree course.

The two year Foundation Degree was developed specially for people already working in the housing sector. Particular attention was paid to people working at supervisory and lower level management positions and for people with the potential to grow into those roles.

The course was designed to develop the broad range of skills and understanding needed to manage staff, stakeholders and projects in a social housing context and to help organisations achieve their strategic objectives.

The Foundation Degree is being taught through “work based learning” as a method of teaching that focuses on a student’s day to day work responsibilities and allows them to learn about issues that are directly relevant to their job.

The course is taught through a mix of individual study and project work, fully supported by ARu tutors through telephone and online communication. Individual study and project work is completed during a student’s own time. Students are entitled to use ARu facilities i.e. the library and online resources.

Although students do not have to attend the Cambridge campus, there are two conferences each year. This provides an ideal opportunity for students to meet fellow students, learn from each other and from specialist practitioners.

Completing the Foundation Degree should make a significant contribution to a student’s professional and personal development. If a student wishes to continue their academic studies further, they are entitled to study for a BA Honours degree at ARu or possibly at another university. A student deciding to convert the Foundation Degree will on average take between one and two years of extra study.

Lynne Davis, Education Officer

treasurer’s Report The national budget allocation for regional activities is divided between all UK committees. Each regional committee budget comprising of two elements the first based on membership (£10 per member), and secondly as an administrative allowance. Each regional committee is able to supplement this sum by raising additional income during the year (sponsorship, charges etc). The allowance for 2010 was set at £16,631.

The regional committee was pleased to be able to arrange a number of free events and seminars for members during the year, including; Regional Lunch and Learn good practice sessions, Chief Officers’ event in Cambridge, an equality and Diversity event held in Cambridge and the publication ‘eastern Outlook’ our regional newsletter.

In addition because there was a very successful conference in 2009 we were able to deliver additional member events, including a free regulation update seminar and a subsidised study trip to Holland.

The 2010 eastern Regional Conference was held at the Radisson Blu Hotel at Stansted, and was an outstanding event. There was a real buzz in the atmosphere with excellent speakers,

sessions and organisation. Thanks must be given to the conference sub group and the Coventry team for all their work and to our sponsors and exhibitors for their support.

Thank you to everyone who helped, supported, sponsored or exhibited at individual regional events during the year and for your contribution which enabled these events to take place.

If you have any suggestions, comments or questions regarding the operation of the regional committee accounts I would be pleased to hear from you and will try to answer your query.

Kim Best, Treasurer

“These balances form part of the Institute’s Accounts. They represent a summary of the documentation relating to the accounts of the eastern Region Committee as at 31st December 2010.

The financial statement to the 31st December 2010 is in accordance with the books and records supplied to me.”

Finance Manager Chartered Institute of Housing, Coventry


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CIH Eastern Region Accounts at 31st December 2010 Meetings & Events for Members

Income 11,627

expenditure (21,965)

Surplus (Deficit) (10,338)

newsletters

expenditure (5,425)


Dinners, Visits & social Events

Income 0

expenditure (1,605)


publicity & Communication

Income 5

expenditure (187)

Surplus (Deficit) (182)

Committee Meetings & governance

expenditure (8,091)


Conference/Annual Meeting 2007

Income 121,229

expenditure (106,070)

Surplus (Deficit) 15,159

Previous years charges 348

Allocation Reserve 0

Total Income 43,422

Total expenditure (36,924)

total surplus £6,498 Approved (out-turn) Budget 16,631 Les newnham Memorial Fund £4,100

(information from CIH audited accounts)

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Gipsy & Travellers challenges

Last year’s report took an optimistic look at the opportunity of increasing sites for Gipsy and Travellers in the region, by using planning obligations and a special £18m special fund that was available from the HCA. There has been disappointing progress, with the special funding being absorbed into the HCA’s single investment pot. The situation has been worsened with the strong feeling (on both sides) towards the problem raised by the evictions from the site at Dale Farm that was set up without planning permission.

The CIH will continue to work to raise awareness about the lack of sites in region and help to deal with prejudice and concern about sites in the area. We will do this by highlighting examples of good practice in the region and promoting greater understanding of the needs of the Gipsy & Traveller Community.

Equality & Diversity for the Eastern Region

The CIH has introduced its “Single Equality Scheme” in July and we will now develop our own strategy for the region that works in with the national plan but reflects local issues.

David Poole Equality & Diversity Lead In the Eastern Regional

Equality & Diversity Conference Our conference this year was aimed at tenants and people supporting their involvement with their landlords. Our venue moved from Cambridge to Norwich where the Council made St Andrews Hall available to us.

We chose the theme to draw more tenants into our region’s activities and because tenants are at the very heart of many equality & Diversity issues. Residents’ groups are often the first people to encounter prejudice and discrimination. This may occur within their own communities or from contractors and other agencies that provide them with services. Community groups must also ensure that they do not behave in a discriminatory way themselves and ensure

that they are able to effectively represent their whole community.

there were workshops dealing with:

1. Promoting tolerance in the neighbourhood, supporting victims and dealing with hate crime.

2. How equal is your tenants’ group? How do you confront and tackle prejudice?

3. examples of tenants working jointly across landlords within a local area.

The conference was fully booked with 120 delegates. We will be taking note of feedback that was received from delegates particularly regarding size of the programme and the arrangements for workshops.


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the programme had three main speakers dealing with:

• The importance of tenant power & influence today and the changes they will face.

• The Localism Bill and “Big Society” – what does it mean to tenant/resident groups.

• Tenant’s own responsibility to be involved in equality and Diversity issues.

Gipsy & Travellers challenges

Last year’s report took an optimistic look at the opportunity of increasing sites for Gipsy and Travellers in the region, by using planning obligations and a special £18m special fund that was available from the HCA. There has been disappointing progress, with the special funding being absorbed into the HCA’s single investment pot. The situation has been worsened with the strong feeling (on both sides) towards the problem raised by the evictions from the site at Dale Farm that was set up without planning permission.

The CIH will continue to work to raise awareness about the lack of sites in region and help to deal with prejudice and concern about sites in the area. We will do this by highlighting examples of good practice in the region and promoting greater understanding of the needs of the Gipsy & Traveller Community.

Equality & Diversity for the Eastern Region

The CIH has introduced its “Single Equality Scheme” in July and we will now develop our own strategy for the region that works in with the national plan but reflects local issues.

David Poole Equality & Diversity Lead In the Eastern Regional

Equality & Diversity Conference gypsies & travellers challengesLast year’s report took an optimistic look at the opportunity of increasing sites for Gypsies and Travellers in the region, by using planning obligations and a special £18m special fund that was available from the HCA. There has been disappointing progress, with the special funding being absorbed into the HCA’s single investment pot. The situation has been worsened with the strong feeling (on both sides) towards the problem raised by the evictions from the site at Dale Farm that was set up without planning permission.

The CIH will continue to work to raise awareness about the lack of sites in region and help to deal with prejudice and concern about

sites in the area. We will do this by highlighting examples of good practice in the region and promoting greater understanding of the needs of the Gypsies & Traveller Community.

Equality & Diversity for the Eastern RegionThe CIH has introduced its “Single equality Scheme” in July and we will now develop our own strategy for the region that works in with the national plan but reflects local issues.

David poole, Equality & Diversity Lead

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www.cih.org

Chief officers’ event This year’s Chairs’ and Chief Officers’ event took place at the Trinity Centre on the 16th September. Over 50 leaders from housing associations and local authorities across the eastern region attended.

Our speakers this year were CIH President Helen Collins, Chief executive of the Housing Quality network Alistair McIntosh, and Matt Leach, the new Chief executive of HACT – the Housing Associations’ Charitable Trust.

Helen spoke about the untimely death of CIH Chief executive Sarah Webb and paid tribute to the impact that she had made upon the housing sector. Her career had started after a student visit to a troubled estate in Glasgow, where she had seen at first hand the impact that poor housing had upon families and communities. Her commitment and dedication to the profession had been an inspiration to everyone who came into contact with her and she will be sorely missed.

Helen also gave an update on the wide-ranging governance and membership changes that were taking place within the CIH. The process for appointing a new board of trustees had begun and the CIH hoped to recruit an experienced and high-calibre board that would lead the organisation forward.

Alistair McIntosh gave an entertaining summary of some of the key changes

taking place across the sector. With the demise of effective regulation, except in cases of serious detriment, he advised landlords to concentrate upon three key areas - safety for both staff and residents, value for money and service efficiency.

Matt Leach, formerly a Director of Think Tank ResPublica spoke about the work of HACT and his intention to re-focus the work of the organisation. He also highlighted the important role that social housing providers could play in creating social enterprises and building the economic capacity of their communities. Landlords need to do more than bricks and mortar and to take a more holistic view of the health and wellbeing of their residents.

The event was kindly sponsored by Morrison.

ContACt DEtAILs: Chartered Institute of Housing Octavia House Westwood Way Coventry Cv4 8JP Tel: 024 7685 1700 Fax: 024 7669 5110

Regional support team [email protected]

Eastern outlook team [email protected]

cih eastern region annual review 2011

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