Tenants Association

Newsletter

December 2006

Keeping us in the picture

Amanda Garrard, Executive Director of Pennine Housing was the guest speaker at our December meeting -- this is what she had to say.

Investment

Pennine Housing's Business Plan has £6 - 7 million per year allocated for improving homes and contributing towards the cost of any new build schemes - Pennine also qualifies for subsidy from the Housing Corporation towards the cost of providing new homes.

Pennine has a stock condition database, which has been developed using information from the stock condition survey that was carried out by Savill's before the transfer. As the stock condition survey didn't check every single property, additional reality checking surveys are also carried out by staff to double check the accuracy of the data.

Synergy is not just about getting subsidy from the Housing Corporation for providing new homes, it is also about buying power; by being part of a larger group we can negotiate a better price from manufacturers for supplying kitchen, bathrooms, doors, etc.

Pennine has recently been reviewing the standards for the products they are fitting into homes - they don't want to reduce the standard but they do want to ensure they are getting value for money. An example of value for money would be Manse doors, Pennine are currently paying £700 per door but by taking out the stained door colour choice and changing the specification slightly they can reduce the cost by nearly 50% - and still get a high quality secure door.

Why Grow?

Using the information from the database a programme of improvement work has been put together for years 7 - 10, this programme will be published in Homing Inin the New Year.

Synergy

Amanda explained that Housing Associations wanting to build new properties need to be part of a larger group in order to get Housing Corporation funding. Lots of Housing Associations have formed partnerships/consortiums with other Registered Social Landlords to ensure they are able to get Housing Corporation funding - the consortium that Pennine is part of is called Synergy and their partners include Wakefield & District Housing and the Chevin Housing Group.

This was the last part of Amanda's presentation and she explained why it was important for Pennine Housing to grow. At the point of transfer there were 12,759 properties but now, nearly 6 years later, there are less than 11,000 properties and Pennine needs to deal with this substantial drop in income.

Senior Management, anticipating the increase in 'Right to Buys', have planned for this drop in income by reducing staff numbers and also by selling some of its housing services to other similar organisations. This strategy helps but there is a need to do something more substantial; by growing Pennine can share its overheads and spread costs amongst its partners e.g. sharing costs with Green Vale Homes immediately saved Pennine £200,000.