WIREDGOV

Thirty-seven innovative housing projects from across the country which involve the development of local standards between landlords and their tenants to improve services have been selected as local standards pilots by the Tenant Services Authority (TSA).
 
The successful projects will benefit tenants living in 380,000 homes across the country and will see landlords working on a wide range of projects that involve tenants playing a key role in agreeing local targets that reflect priorities and needs.
 
Some 185 organisations which include local authorities, co-operatives and housing associations answered the TSA’s invitation to bid for funding of up to £9,000 to support to support the development of agreements between landlords and their tenants to develop 'local deals'. Grants totalling £281,000 have been awarded.
 
One of the projects benefiting from this cash is being undertaken by the Bristol Housing Partnership. The partnership between the city’s housing associations, council and the Bristol-wide housing association tenants’ network will ensure that disabled tenants have the same levels of access to services and the support they need to live in their homes by developing a common standard which provides greater transparency and holds landlords to account.
 
Other examples of the successful bidders include:
 
Bromford Group and Homezone Living
This project is aimed at developing a standard around the access needs of groups who are at risk from encountering barriers to the allocation of homes. This includes vulnerable, older and disabled people, people with learning disabilities and those leaving care. The aim is to provide greater choice and flexibility and a wider range of housing options for tenants, which will ultimately provide a set of standards to help judge the success of the service.
 
Moat
Moat aims to develop a new inspection regime in each of its estates in Merton. This will include an estate award pilot and estate champions. Starting in Pollards Hill, a bi-monthly inspection will be carried out and will be giving a gold, silver or bronze rating. The inspections will cover safety, security and fly-tipping. Tenants will receive training and support from an external consultancy to help challenge the services they receive, and to agree local standards for their estates.
 
Peter Marsh, TSA Chief Executive said, "We have had a fantastic response to our invitation for funding and have been very impressed with the high quality of the bids received. The work we have chosen to support will provide invaluable learning to test, inform and shape our thinking in how we define local, how local standard can best be agreed with tenants and how they will work in practice.”
 
The pilots are scheduled to start this month and will be funded through to April 2010.
 
Ends.

For media enquiries, contact the press office on 020 7393 2094/2118/2115.

Notes to editors:
 
1) A full list of successful bidders are:

Organisation Name	Landlord Type	Grant
Tenant Empowerment
Moat	Housing association	£8,500
Stockport Homes Limited	Arm’s-length management organisation	£6,500
Home – Stonham	Housing association	£9,000
Confederation of Co-Operative Housing	Co-operative/ Tenant management organisation	£9,000
London Borough of Hillingdon	Local authority	£9,000
Adactus	Housing association	£5,000
Accord Group	Housing association	£8,000
Tristar Homes	Arm’s-length management organisation	£6,500
Sentinel	Housing association	£9,000
Sahill	Housing association	£8,280
Sub Total		£78,780
Allocations
Halton Housing Trust	Housing association	£9,000
Bromford Group and Homezone Living	Housing association	£7,000
Great Places Housing Group	Housing association	£9,000
Sub Total		£25,000
Repairs and Maintenance
Derwent & Solway	Housing association	£2,350
London Borough of Croydon	Local authority	£9,000
Bemerton Villages	Co-operative/ Tenant management organisation	£9,000
Hanover	Housing association	£5,000
Calico Housing Ltd	Housing association	£9,000
West Kent HA	Housing association	£9,000
Sub Total		£43,350
Anti Social Behaviour and Security
Bolton at Home	Arm’s-length management organisation	£9,000
Derwent & Solway	Housing association	£2,350
London Borough of Hounslow	Local authority	£9,000
East Midlands Housing Group	Housing association	£4,500
Sub Total		£24,850
Neighbourhood and Estate Management
Midland Heart	Housing association	£9,000
Town & Country Housing Group	Housing association	£9,000
Norfolk RSLs Alliance	Housing association	£9,000
Thrive Homes	Housing association	£9,000
Sub Total		£36,000
Quality of Accommodation
Bristol Housing Partnership	Multi landlord	£7,000
Spire Homes	Housing association	£1,000
Sustainable Homes Ltd	Housing association	£9,000
Sub Total		£17,000
Tenant Choice/Customer Experience
Endeavour	Housing association	£9,000
Derwent & Solway	Housing association	£2,350
Your Homes Newcastle	Arm’s-length management organisation	£9,000
Richmond Housing Partnership	Housing associations	£9,000
Wolverhampton Homes	Arm’s-length management organisation	£9,000
London Brorough Lewisham	Local authority	£9,000
Chapter 1	Housing association	£9,000
Sub Total		£56,350
TOTAL		£281,330

2) All organisations receiving funding for the pilot projects will be visited by a member of TSA staff to discuss progress. In addition to this and in order to effectively capture key learning, successful pilots will be asked to record, monitor and regularly feedback their progress as defined by the TSA. This work will inform the  development of the TSA’s regulatory framework and is likely to require a minimum of:
A report at the start of the project to include details of partnership working with tenants and how performance will be assessed and monitored;
An interim report in December 2009 to include details of how tenants are involved in monitoring of the local standards;
Local standards ion place by April 2010
A final report later in 2010 which includes details of the impact of agreeing local standards and how the work can be replicated.

3) The Tenant Excellence Fund replaces the Innovation and Good Practice (IGP) fund. The IGP programme was a revenue grant which encouraged the development and testing of new ideas and proposals and to generate and promote good practice in the delivery of housing services within the housing association sector.

4) The Tenant Services Authority (TSA) is the independent regulator for affordable housing, set to raise the standard of services through a well-governed sector that puts tenants first. It launched on 1 December 2008 and currently regulates housing associations. From spring 2010, the TSA will also regulate other providers of social housing, such as local authorities and arms-length management organisations.
 
5) The TSA is consulting with social housing tenants across five million households and their landlords to develop new standards to improve services for tenants.
 
6) Initially the TSA will operate under the legal powers of the Housing Corporation while it consults on the powers set out in the 2008 Housing and Regeneration Act.