Transcript Document

community housing mutuals
Keith Edwards
CIH Cymru, November 2013
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outline
• community housing mutuals
- what they are
- where they are
- why they are
- who they are
• taking stock – the story so far
• future challenges
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community housing mutuals:
what they are
• Made in Wales stock transfer
- accountability
- community regeneration
• Rules: IPS or CLG (Cobbetts / Wales Co-op Centre)
- all tenants can choose to be members
- assets ‘belong’ to tenants
- community regen = constitutional obligation
- dynamic – local devolution
- based on Co-operative Principles
• Board: tenants / LA reps / local ‘independents’
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community housing mutuals:
what they are
Co-operative Principles
1. Open membership
2. Democratic Member Control
3. Members' Economic Participation
4. Autonomy and Independence
5. Education, Training and Information
6. Co-operation among Co-operatives
7. Concern for Community
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community housing mutuals:
where they are
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devolution referendum 1997
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general election 2010
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referendum 2011: extending powers
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% of population reporting ‘good health’
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Location of long term illness
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pupils failing to reach level 4 at Key Stage 2
(average for English and Maths)
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index of multiple
deprivation 2008
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demand for debt advice services
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South Wales coalfield
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a Close Encounters moment?
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revolutions start here!
‘Our part of the world is
famous as a crucible of
economic, social and
environmental
transformation … the
Industrial Revolution … the
Chartist Movement … the
National Health Service’
GENuS consortium
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community housing mutuals:
why they are
• the acceptable face of transfer – especially for
Labour
• no viable Plan B / investment logjam
• Government support
• accountability is the key
• realism
- no idealised notions of community but
- neither have communities mutated /
degenerated in 30 years
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community housing mutuals:
who they are
Blaenavon
Pontypool
Cwmbran
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‘social enterprise run by staff and members ‘
public service ethos - provide support for people who need it
partnership with residents and the Council
maximise community benefits including local jobs & skills – in
house
• open to all tenants, leaseholders and homeowners living in
Torfaen
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community housing mutuals:
who they are
Rhondda Valleys
Pontypridd
Aberdare
• ‘more than a landlord’
• membership open to tenants’ families and local
residents.
• constitutional commitment to community involvement
and regeneration
• innovative multi-million pound procurement process
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community housing mutuals:
who they are
Ebbw Vale
Tredegar
‘tenants at the heart of everything we do’
Neath
Port Talbot
‘no one knows communities better than the people who live
there’
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taking stock: the story so far
• WHQS: £3 Billion
• 11 of 22 councils transferred:
- 4.5 mutuals
- others ‘quack & walk’ like mutuals
• A more mixed social housing economy
• transfers out perform LAs and traditional RSLs
- WHQS investment
- community regeneration
• WHQS Plus – standard for housing & beyond
• rebirth for housing co-ops?
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WHQS plus
The i2i / Savills reports:
if you’re going to do it, do it well:
1. local local jobs / regeneration
2. community ownership
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the Can Do Toolkit 1
• TR&T - targeted
recruitment and
training
• core requirement
• it’s legal
• it works
• it’s free
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the Can Do Toolkit 2
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SME Friendly procurement
improve client side skills
simplify procurement
upskill SMEs
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4 years on…?
• 3,765 job and training
opportunities across Wales
• Conditions of Welsh
Government Grants
• Welsh Government double
default
- ‘core’ requirement
- jobs and training
• Not just construction!
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a rebirth of co-op housing?
500 new affordable co-operative homes
• Newport–£650,000 for 20 co-operative
Shared Ownership houses / Seren Group
• Cardiff- £408k for 10 Co-operative Social Rent
homes / Cadwyn HA
• Carmarthenshire - £851k for 27 Cooperative
Shared Equity / Gwalia Group
…… and many more coming through
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future challenges
• Main programmes delivered
• local government reorganisation – the end of
co-terminosity
• Not many green shoots – and welfare reform!
• Welsh Government – a distinct and
developing narrative
• Agents of local and long term change
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future challenges
‘localism without resources – or
centralism as we used to call it’
Tim Williams
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Wales is a different country
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no longer ‘England . . . and Wales’
we’re not Scotland
confidence and capacity
can new Revolutions start here?
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