Pennine Communities Federation of
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5 Lister Court |
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.
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.
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?
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.
The Big Picture Working Group had identified two major issues which they initially want to focus their attention on. These are:
The supply of affordable rented housing in Calderdale, including young people's homelessness
The Government's 'Respect' Agenda, a new initiative to tackle the root causes of anti-social behaviour which will have a big impact on Pennine as a social landlord
There are other issues which the group want to look at in the future, such as fuel poverty.
The group recognise the importance of connecting with other organisations and will make every effort to attend both regional and national meetings, both to learn more and to have an influence beyond Pennine. Ruth will be attending the launch of the Council's Housing Strategy and a meeting of the West Yorkshire Sounding Board. She will be bringing us up to speed at the next Federation meeting.
The Working Group has already completed their first task, which was to produce an information leaflet outlining the role of the Federation to be used to promote the Federation - Eric circulated a copy of the leaflet and asked members to feedback any comments as soon as possible.
The group are now familiarising themselves with the information provided by Pennine to all new Tenants Associations and they also intend to contact any new group to ask if they can be invited to a meeting to explain the role of the Federation.
The Government has just announced a £600 million 'Switchover Support Scheme' to ensure that people in receipt of Income Support & Pension Credit are able to convert one TV set to receive a digital TV picture for free when the big switchover takes place.
The Training Working Group had had its first meeting and had identified the priorities for their work over the coming months, these are:
Finding out about the range of training opportunities which are currently being provided for organisations like the Federation. This work will include visiting Trafford Hall and TPAS to find out how they can contribute to the Federation's development
Developing a criteria for who the Federation should be providing training to
Surveying groups to find out what training Tenants & Residents Groups actually want
Calculating the Federation's training budget for the forthcoming year
We were all really sad to hear about the recent death of Ken Smith.
Ken was probably the most influential tenant activist in Calderdale over the past decade. Although he held various offices in the Tenants' Federation, he refused to stand for the position of Chair because he was a leaseholder, and was content to do a lot of work 'behind the scenes'.
He was involved in politics, being a Labour Councillor on Shipley Urban District Council before moving to Brighouse to take up a post as a full-time agent. In Ken's own words, it was when he retired that his work really started.
He was one of the founder members of Whinney Hill Park Tenants' Association in the early nineties and scored some notable successes for the area. He persuaded Calderdale Council not to invest in streetlighting for a poorly-used car park in the centre of Halifax and instead to spend the money on lighting in Whinney Hill where there were serious concerns about personal safety. He had a clear understanding of the need for fairness and people's concerns about being left out, getting the Housing Department to abandon plans to put double glazing in all the windows of a few properties on WHP in favour of replacing everyone's lounge window - so everyone got something of what they wanted.
He was before his time in pressing for a stronger line on ASB, recognising the impact it had on residents, well before it became a Government concern. He was for many years a member of Pennine's Anti-Social Behaviour Working Group.
Ken was still active up to his death, despite a long battle with cancer.
The Federation office is available for use by any Tenants Association for meetings or producing newsletters or minutes.
All you have to do is contact Mary Battye who is acting as our Booking Secretary and she will arrange for someone to be available to open up. Mary's number is 01422 205665
We have just heard the sad news that, after a short illness, Jane Toye has died.
Jane has been the Pennine Housing Upper Valley Tenant Board Member since September 2005. Prior to this Jane was the Secretary of Twin Towers Tenants Association, Sowerby Bridge for a number of years and had also been on the Federation's Management Committee.
She was actively involved in Pennine's disability forum and worked hard to ensure that Pennine always considered the needs of minority groups.
Jane will be greatly missed by all her friends in the Fed'.
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Despite the sadness above, PCFTRA wishes everyone a
Merry ChristmasThe next Federation meeting is 7pm, Wednesday 28th February 2007 at Bull Green House - Janette Dunne is the guest speaker talking about Respect
Don't forget the Federation's New Year party at 7.30pm Saturday 13th January 2007 at Maurice Jagger Centre, Windings Road, Halifax. Tickets are £3, contact Richard Guillot, Sue Molineux or Mary Battye for more information.
Pennine Communities Federation of Tenants & Residents Association (PCFTRA)
5 Lister Court Halifax HX1 5DR
Tel: 01422 365281
E-mail: federation1@tiscali.co.uk
Website: www.penninefederation.org.uk
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