星空传媒

Glasgow: transfer trouble

In March, Glasgow鈥檚 78,000 council tenants and 1700 housing staff transferred to Glasgow Housing Association after a long and difficult journey involving a 拢100m funding gap, a threatened judicial review, and mutinies by tenant representatives. Council officers may at last be breathing sighs of relief, but to many the transfer simply marks a holding position en route to tenant management and a halfway point on the road to second-stage transfer and tenant ownership. Under the complex 拢4bn deal, stock is owned by GHA but managed by 64 local housing organisations that range in size from 60 homes to 4000. Half are existing housing associations, half are new organisations led by tenant boards and staffed by seconded GHA employees. But so far, the stock is still being centrally managed by GHA. The local housing organisations have not yet taken on their roles, which are to be defined under an interim management agreement not due to be signed until the end of May. 鈥淢ost would have hoped it would be ready by now. But it is better to get it right than to be too hasty,鈥� says Alan Benson, chief executive of Milnbank Housing Association, which will manage 1000 homes in the city鈥檚 Dennistoun area. Even when the agreement is ready, only 14 tenant-led LHOs will be ready to register with Communities Scotland, the body that regulates Scottish social landlords. The rest will not be ready until later in the year. This is because for most tenant recruits, many of whom are in their 50s or 60s, the preparation and training burden has been considerable 鈥� 鈥渁 three- to four-year process squeezed into 18 months,鈥� says John Goldie, chair of South-west Area Tenant Controlled Housing. The interim agreement will run for two years and then be reviewed in the light of the local housing organisations鈥� plans. Benson says: 鈥淭he issues for a lot of associations and LHOs are the prospects for second-stage transfers. They have to be modelled in the context of the GHA鈥檚 financial arrangements, but we need an agreed process and timescale. There needs to be a debate.鈥� Goldie also feels the sense of urgency, saying simply: 鈥淚 want to get to second-stage transfer and get away from the lot of them.鈥� Meanwhile, the LHOs submit investment and management plans to the GHA, based on locally agreed priorities. If approved 鈥� and the assumption is that plans within GHA鈥檚 overall strategy will be given the green light 鈥� the GHA agrees a finance and technical support package. Queen鈥檚 Cross Housing Association, which is taking on 3000 homes, has already submitted its plans. 鈥淭he interim management agreement is on day-to-day issues, the business plan is on long-term investment,鈥� says chief executive Alistair McGregor. 鈥淲e鈥檙e making progress on one without the other.鈥� So far, the GHA has agreed to 拢66m of projects, the first tranche of a 10-year, 拢1.56bn, programme for insulation, fabric, security and kitchen and bathroom upgrades. But two-stage transfer raises complexities, as Benson points out: 鈥淚s it better to improve the stock under the GHA, or do it later? How far will local groups鈥� priorities be achievable under the relationship with the GHA?鈥� For now, tenants are still on board 鈥� but wary of future hold-ups. 鈥淚 believe in the process. It can work, if they allow us to let it,鈥� says Goldie.

Aberdeen: one good apple

Aberdeen council tenants Bert and Phyllis Trail will be celebrating their golden wedding anniversary in New York after winning a prize draw that launched the city鈥檚 new housing brand, Goodapple Homes. The rest of Aberdeen鈥檚 24,000 tenants don鈥檛 get free holidays, but they are hoping for a more proactive housing management service and more say in what happens in their community. It is part of their payback for voting to stay with the council in a referendum on stock transfer last November despite the prospect of fairly steep rent rises. Goodapple, unveiled in March, is one of a range of initiatives the council is to run in its re-endorsed role, including choice-based lettings, combined heat and power plants for up to 40 tower blocks, stock restructuring and regeneration and a new-build programme. 鈥淲e never took our foot off the pedal despite the uncertainties over transfer, but now we want to give tenants a new deal. Others councils do similar work, but our mandate gives us incentive and confidence,鈥� says Craig Stirrat, client and support officer. The rebranding is a strategy to deliver better services to existing tenants and attract new ones. It was born out of consultation before the referendum, when tenants said too much effort went into curbing rent arrears or antisocial behaviour 鈥� that the 鈥渂ad apples鈥� always floated to the top of the barrel. Tenants will sign up to pay rent on time and keep gardens tidy in return for incentives. As well as financial measures such as end-of-year bonuses, these carrots are likely to include a enhanced repair service and community activities. 鈥淭he concept is to get people more involved in their areas,鈥� says Rab Hepburn, head of accommodation policy. Another idea is to appoint estate 鈥渁mbassadors鈥� to ease new tenants into the community. Midway between volunteers and council employees, ambassadors would also get financial incentives. Under Goodapple, the council hopes to market properties outside its traditional tenant base, since rising property values in the city have created a new demand for affordable housing. The rebranding will use advertising material colour-coded to property types and target markets. 鈥淲e want people to see council housing as something they鈥檇 consider in the early stage in search of a house,鈥� says John McConnachie, co-chairman of the Tenant Participation Ward Group. But Goodapple can only deliver part of what the tenants voted for in the referendum: the rest is down to a repair and maintenance programme expected to cost 拢1bn over 30 years. As most of this expenditure will come in the first decade, the impact was costed at rent rises of inflation plus 4% for four years, then inflation plus 2% for a further six. However, Aberdeen鈥檚 financial position may turn out healthier than most. It has been cushioned by a 25% revenue share from 600 right-to-buy sales a year, has relatively low debt of less than 拢4000 a unit and has received a 拢2m windfall from the Supporting People care services funding regime. 鈥淲ith a large part of rental income used for housing repair and maintenance [拢15m a year from total revenues of 拢52m], we have the capacity for prudential borrowing,鈥� says Stirrat. Aberdeen is hoping for an additional 拢11m in borrowing capacity in the first year, with up to 拢90m over five years. It has set up a working group to survey stock condition and prepare a business plan to apply for borrowing rights by next April.

Edinburgh: the partnership approach

In Scotland, as in the rest of the UK, local authorities sometimes feel like surfers trying to keep upright on successive waves of new strategic demands. The 2001 Scottish Housing Act required the production of local housing plans and introduced new forms of tenancies and changes to homelessness services; meanwhile, there鈥檚 the national agenda on issues such as choice-based lettings and antisocial behaviour. Balancing these demands with bread-and-butter housing management and difficulties recruiting at area manager level, Edinburgh council had to admit that it was having difficulty staying upright. In particular, the 4900-home North Edinburgh district, subject to high levels of deprivation and regeneration upheaval, was being neglected. 鈥淲e had a performance improvement plan under way, but other work was absorbing a lot of staff time,鈥� says Fanchea Kelly, director of housing management services. A 12-month housing management services partnering contract with Pinnacle Housing Group, the first of its kind in Scotland, looked like a good solution. The contract involves seconding two full-time managers from Pinnacle to the council staff, plus consulting services. It is self-financing, with revenue from letting voids and chasing up rent arrears paying for Pinnacle鈥檚 services. The contract also sets performance targets on customer service and requires an effective strategy on antisocial behaviour. Although there is no incentive for Pinnacle to exceed these targets, the goalposts 鈥� and financial rewards 鈥� could be moved further out after a six-month review and the arrangement could be extended beyond a year, depending on Edinburgh鈥檚 management capacity. Since the new regime began in February, voids have fallen from 301 to 211, more than two-thirds of the way towards the 12-month target of reducing empty homes from 6% to 3% 鈥� the city-wide target is 2-2.5%. About 300 cases of rent arrears have been cleared, bringing in an estimated 拢55,000 of the 12-month target of 拢200,000. Pinnacle has reorganised responsibilities in the 55-strong housing team. The council had recently switched from general working to specialist teams, but Pinnacle went further 鈥� moving people with the most experience on housing benefit to benefit-related arrears cases and adding individual caseload targets to team targets. 鈥淭here was nothing basically wrong with the management structure,鈥� says director Jim Saunders. 鈥淏ut our attitude was 鈥榠f it ain鈥檛 working, let鈥檚 change it鈥�.鈥� Other initiatives include text messages to jump-start tenants into paying rent arrears, a four-week 鈥渆nvironmental blitz鈥� in North Edinburgh, funded by the Scottish Executive, and an open day for tenants next week. North Edinburgh鈥檚 staff were initially wary of what they saw as back-door privatisation, but now appear to appreciate the fresh breeze. Senior housing officer Agnes Renton describes a more open management culture with published monthly targets and discussion on how to reach them, and a get-to-know-you lunch with other local agencies. Customer adviser Rob Tigeir is also a convert. 鈥淲hen I started, the job was burdened with ridiculous things, because that鈥檚 how they鈥檇 always been done. But Pinnacle isn鈥檛 tied down by how things are done in the council.鈥�

Scottish housing policy

Prudential borrowing
Last November, ministers decided that housing finance should be brought within the scope of the new prudential borrowing regime already announced for the rest of local authority capital expenditure. This will take effect from April 2004. The Scottish Executive is now working with the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities on the housing dimension. According to the Chartered Institute of Housing in Scotland, about 17 of Scotland鈥檚 32 councils have low housing debt and could sustain prudential borrowing. Stock options
In November, Margaret Curran, minister for social justice, re-affirmed the Scottish Executive鈥檚 commitment to community ownership through whole-stock transfer. In a slight change of emphasis, she recognised that some councils prefer to retain stock and will have access to a wider range of funding options to carry out improvements. But transfer remains the Executive鈥檚 preferred way forward. Community ownership programme
Councils are to be invited to apply for a slice of up to 拢175m for regeneration projects by 2005/6. But to be eligible, councils have to undertake preliminary aspects of stock transfer, such as a stock condition survey and have to give a commitment to complete the transfer within a certain period. The money could be used to fund demolitions, new build or environmental improvements. Stock transfer review
In January, the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations called for a clearer guidelines on milestones, timescales and project management in a meeting with the Scottish Executive, which promised a review expected to be published in March. The report鈥檚 scope is to be widened but a spokesperson for the Executive could not give a revised publication date. Consultation paper
The Modernising Scotland鈥檚 Social Housing consultation paper, published in March, asked for comments on the policies outlined last November. These include the proposed Scottish Social Housing Standard 鈥� about 20 councils have already set their own standards. The Executive is also seeking views on the timescale to achieve the standard, interim milestones, innovative funding models and management approaches and the community ownership programme.