Back to the future?
After a less than successful outcome for housing the last time around, Julie Nicholas looks at the challenges and opportunities presented by the Williams Report
It didn\’t take too long to see that the last major reorganisation of local government in wales in the 1990s hadn’t worked out too well for housing. within a couple of years the process of demoting it as a corporate priority was well underway, usually seeing it subsumed into a ‘super department’ with anything from social care, planning or environmental health. Some 20 years on that process is complete, with no totally free standing housing departments across wales. pressures are most acute in the 11 councils that have transferred their stock to new RSls where the struggle to secure resources is getting harder without a Housing Revenue Account to draw support from
The latest attempt to change the face of local government in Wales – The Williams Report – proposes a new model for Welsh public services. It calls for radical change within the next five years to combat the pressures arising from austerity, changing demographics and public expectation. The implications for the housing sector will be huge, not least because of the proposal to reduce the number of Welsh councils from 22 to a maximum of 12. Also of interest is the focus within the report on dealing with the public ‘funding gap’ through collaboration and co-production, prevention and early intervention, improved governance and an outcomes-focus; approaches familiar within both the Welsh housing sector and supporting people programme.
So what are the prospects for housing in any new set up? Take just one issue – the impact on current and former council housing. If the proposals in the report are implemented it will create some interesting dynamics between transfers and retention authorities – see the table below.
For new councils that bring together two or more authorities where all the homes have been retained there will be opportunities to increase the ‘critical mass’ of housing as a corporate priority and as a means of mobilising resources, with building new council housing a real possibility. For new authorities where all the stock has been transferred the opportunity for closer collaboration or even merger clearly opens up. Perhaps most interesting of all are the ‘mixed’ authorities with at least one retention and one transfer coming together. Here we could see local competition or even a new momentum for stock transfer across the whole new borough.
Of course the impact will be much wider than landlord functions. This will include the strategic housing role, homelessness and other services, partnership working with RSLs, regulation of the PRS to name a few. CIH Cymru will be leading the debate across all sectors in the coming months, starting at TAI 2014, on the opportunities and challenges for housing in a new local authority landscape. We want to engage with member and the wider community on some fundamental issues including:
• How can we ensure that housing is embedded as a major priority for the new councils?
• Where should housing sit in new corporate structures – could it reflect the Welsh Government alignment of housing regeneration and planning or would it sit better with health and social care?
• What will the impact be on RSL partners including the traditional and stock transfer associations.?
• What are the prospects for the strengthening of the strategic housing function?
• Can councils become local ‘system stewards’ orchestrating the action of partners across all sectors to deliver more homes, improve quality and respond to the housing and support needs of local people?
• How can staff be supported through the process of change?
• How can we ensure that programmes such as Supporting People continue to deliver for vulnerable people?
• How can we ensure that Welsh Government supports housing to deliver in the light of its current and emerging responsibilities including regulation of the PRS?
This is an initial and not an exhaustive list and our thinking will develop over the months ahead. crucially we want to know what your concerns are and any ideas you have on what needs to be done to set the agenda for housing. Please feel free to contact me at Julie.nicholas@cih.org – i look forward to hearing from you.
Julie Nicholas is policy and public affairs manager at CIH Cymru
Tai 2014: Lift-Off !
It’s lift-off for Welsh housing this year and that’s the theme of the TAI conference running from 25th-27th March in Cardiff.
Join us on the TAI 2014 expedition; travel through housing-related topics at home and away, explore ideas up close and take a look at the panorama. We have a stellar programme with satellite events, leading lights and rising stars. This is a three-day expedition to discover a new landscape and debate the future outlook.
At home we examine our first Housing Bill, tenancy reform and most recently the Williams commission on public services governance and delivery report. Away, we debate the Scottish referendum and the austerity alternative, we will be introduced to new innovations and industries, and explore housing’s role in progressing equality and economic recovery.
What Safer Communities did next
Carl Sargeant, minister for housing and planning, ended the CIH Cymru Safer Communities conference in february with a rallying call for housing professionals to take their learning from the event back to their organisations, and ‘make a difference’. The CIH, the home of professional standards, is keen to join in and meet this welsh challenge, so here’s what we intend to do next…
What do the Williams report, the new homelessness prevention duty in the Housing Bill (Wales) and the development of a national training framework within the new Ending Violence Against Women and Domestic Abuse (Wales) Bill all have in common? They demonstrate the roll-out of a new delivery model for public and third sector agencies that offer a combination of prevention, early intervention and responsive services, delivered by informed professionals, working in collaboration, to improve the safety and outcomes for the people of Wales.
Well-trained staff are integral to delivering on this agenda and so CIH Cymru’s learning and development service is upping our offer, to ensure we contribute to building Safer Welsh communities.
Safer Communities: domestic abuse good practice
Sonia Dorothy summarises the free training offer to housing officers and managers in March
CIH CYMRU IS offerIng a limited number of free* training opportunties in March, with the kind support of welsh government.
The training is aimed at housing officers and managers to give participants a comprehensive understanding of domestic abuse as a social issue, and teach the skills required to respond appropriately to people at risk.
You will be trained using the ‘Peabody approach’, which includes identifying risk factors, implementing an action plan and making appropriate onward referrals to local and national support services.
The training is available in two locations; on 14th March in South Wales and 21st March in North Wales.
For more information and to request a booking form please email: sonia.dorothy@cih.org
*Limited to 1 free place per agency, for professionals directly delivering housing services, and subject to availability (only 15 places per event). N.B. there is a £99 non-attendance fee.
Safer communities at TAI: anti-social behaviour
Jon Barnes gives readers the lowdown on our brand new fringe-event
Anti-social behaviour (ASB) is, in the majority of cases, solved with non-legal action. As an attendee at a previous event observed ‘there isn’t a great deal of experience out there’ if a case requires legal action.
Our Safer Communities at TAI seminar, on 26th March, will provide ASB practitioners and community safety team officers with a practical learning opportunity, equipping staff with essential skills for their own courtroom experience. The programme takes in an overview of the ASB landscape and an update on upcoming legislation before the main event. Delegates will receive hints and tips on preparing for, and presenting at court, followed by a full mock injunction application, with real life legal eagles taking you through the process.
Capstick solicitors and a deputy judge will be providing expert advice and CIH consultancy’s ASB specialist Chris Grose will chair the event. You can find out more about the event at: www.cih.org/events/display/vpathdCR/ templatedata/cih/events/data/wales/Safer_communities_ at_tAI_ASB