Adding value in challenging times
With pressure building on housing organisations through the bedroom tax and other welfare changes, should we be tempted to forget our long term aspirations and stick to collecting rents? Not a bit of it say our battle-hardened yet optimistic i2i team.
It’s the time of year when we reflect on the best practice achieved across the sector, celebrating at the TAI conference and with the i2i ‘4 Year On report’ on the success of the Can Do Toolkit. We have surveyed our partners on their community benefit initiatives and have some really exciting case studies we can’t wait to share with you. On Day 2 of the conference, we will be holding a session with our partners showcasing the work that is being undertaken by landlords to ensure their tenants are receiving the best possible service, through engagement and partnership working.
The main focus is still on jobs and training, as well as other types of community benefits across the housing sector. We have seen a legal firm partner with a landlord to deliver training opportunities to tenants’ children, week-long intensive training in all trades by five contractors in one local authority area and SME-friendly practices taking centre stage in many procurement activities.
Welfare reform will impact on our sector immensely, with varying consequences. To mitigate the impact we have to, as Huw Lewis; Minister for Housing, Regeneration and Heritage Housing, Regeneration and Heritage put it ‘box clever’.
In the past development and maintenance programmes have created over 3,000 training and job opportunities. In the future landlords will have to support tenants into employment and training. Maintaining income from rents will become of central importance of course. But as important will be improving economic activity which can lead to lower rent arrears, falling levels of crime, and financial/digital inclusion.
Providing support to tenants to return to work should be one of the options that housing providers offer, working towards reducing the impact of the welfare reform.
Housing officers and neighbourhood services are being asked to deliver much more than the traditional housing management service, and i2i is here to help in that process. We can provide training and workshops for all housing management staff on how best to engage their tenants and deliver targeted recruitment and training.
The Can Do toolkit was launched in 2008 and since then a wide range of additional resources and good practices have been developed. In order to ensure the best possible information is available for any organisation wanting to use community benefits to enhance job and training opportunities and wider community benefits through their procurement, i2i is launching a refresh of the toolkit at TAI. It will be available online at www.cih.org/i2i along with lots more regularly updated good practice and case studies.
And it’s not just housing…Welsh Ministers are urging their departments and external organisations to maximise the benefits of investment across the public sector. The Welsh Government Wales Infrastructure Investment Plan launched in November 2012, suggests that the community benefits approach should be adopted on all grant-funded construction and service contracts over £2million. Housing has led the way through WHQS and Social Housing Grant funded programmes. This approach has also been used with great success in the Welsh Government ARBED I & II programmes, 21st Century Schools projects and highways upgrades, all creating local jobs for local people.
The Welsh Government Housing White Paper noted:
‘The use of social clauses in contracts for refurbishing social housing, through the work of i2i for example has been particularly successful in helping unemployed adults and young people to find work in an increasingly competitive labour market.’
This has only taken place due to the resourcefulness and initiative of the housing sector. We can and shall continue to do more. We must ensure that community benefits are not seen as just fluffy, nice things to do.
Remember:
- the housing sector has led the way on targeted recruitment and training and wider community benefits
- keeping our eye on the long term aim of vibrant and viable communities is essential despite the current challenges
- there is a tremendous amount of good practice out there – linking up with colleagues and partners is free consultancy!
- i2i and others are here to help – so give us a call
Need support? Happy to help!
i2i offers a range of support services to housing and regeneration organisations including:
- designing community benefits into your investment programmes from start to finish
- involving tenants, staff and board members in design and delivery
- capturing lessons sessions focussing in on particular problems and identifying solutions
If you need more information, please contact Rachel.Honey-Jones@cih.org