2012 – are we there yet?
2012 loomed large for those in the Welsh social housing sector at any time over the last ten years. The date chosen as target for achieving the Welsh Housing Quality Standard is upon us, but can the success of the process be measured by the hitting or falling short of this fixed point in time? Rachel Morton from i2i poses the question.
Business needs targets. To crank up the rusted machinery of housing stock improvements, we needed a point on the horizon to aim for. 2012 was ambitious, but it has fired up much that is innovative in the sector. i2i was an project set up to look for that innovation – to find out how to surf on the back of this great wave of housing investment across Wales. And the successes just keep on coming…
Tenant involvement (more than just consultation!) has given rise to tenant influence in specifying investment programmes, procurement, selection of contractors and inspection of works.
The Can Do Toolkit gave us all a roadmap to including clauses in the procurement process to make targeted recruitment and training (TR&T) and community benefits core requirements, rather than the patchy results of ‘gentlemen’s agreements’ to have community benefits added on to contracted works. TR&T has generated 2,581 job and training opportunities over the last three years – a result that should have the housing sector on the front page of the national dailies.
The second Can Do Toolkit has taken up the banner for small businesses in creating a guide for SME-friendly procurement. This has been piloted by Tai Ceredigion and facilitates all sized contractors to access a range of contracts on offer through a framework. The process recognised that smaller firms can be deterred or disadvantaged just by the paperwork alone. The process was streamlined. White paper bid submissions were used to avoid a contest of glossy publications. Staff, tenants and board members scored the tender documents, and the interviewees were those contractors actually involved in delivery rather than company directors. 15 of the 20 successful contractors signed up have been SMEs.
The Ceredigion pound idea was born out of WHQS work. Tai Ceredigion plan to use the Value Wales Community Benefits tool to capture the local multiplier effect (LM3), where any contract can be assessed for how much impact each pound spent on capital works is having in the local community.
The impact of TR&T clauses is moving wider afield than Housing. Swansea and Caerphilly councils have both taken the lessons of squeezing the procurement pound for as much benefit as possible. It has been seen across the board in highways, education and regeneration contracts.
Social enterprises are on everyone’s radar. Businesses that re-invest their profits for the social good rather than private gain can bring added benefits to the table in deprived communities. But how best to do this? Partnership with an existing social business takes out guesswork and brings in sustainability – just see Cartrefi Conwy and Crest. Or create from the ground up, like W&M Enterprises in Bridgend. Is there an option to buy a franchise and have a ready made business off the shelf?
The challenge for the sector is to prove its worth. Measuring the impact of initiatives in the housing sector has to go beyond numbers. We can show the outputs of numbers of kitchens and bathrooms upgraded or numbers of training places provided, but we have to dig deeper for the outcomes. We have to track the beneficiaries and show material improvements in life circumstances. It’s a challenge to follow up and hard work once the project is over and the photos have been taken, but we need to make sure we are getting the £££s to the right places.
And now the votes are all in, what of the ‘no vote’ authorities? The WHQS started on the principle that doing nothing was not an option, so where are the alternative options? If the straight path is not viable, we need to think laterally. Does this also apply to the private rented sector? In many areas, some of the private rented sector is rated as uninhabitable. The WHQS was originally going to cover all rental properties – should this fall by the wayside because it is too difficult?
Where does the WHQS go next? Although we are not all there yet, perhaps it is a good time for the Standard to evolve? At TAI 2012, many delegates suggested that removing elements of the Standard and them replacing with fuel poverty or energy efficiency measures would be more meaningful and sustainable.
As TS Elliot might have said about the WHQS process: it is the journey that matters, not the arrival.
i2i contacts
South and Mid Wales, Cardiff and the Vale – Rachel Honey-Jones, 07507 351906
West and North Wales – Elen Grantham, 07507 562193
South East Wales and Valleys – Rachel Morton 07534 527544