| Housing Excellence

Time for action

Meeting the care and support needs of our ever-ageing population has long been a topic of discussion but a workable solution seems to be lacking. Meanwhile the population isn’t getting any younger. Michelle Mckenna reports

Prime Minister calls for end to secure tenancies

At a ‘meet the people’ session in Birmingham, the Prime Minister called into question the future of secure tenancies for social housing tenants, but his comments haven’t gone down well with housing professionals – nor tenants, who called the idea “nasty and unworkable”. Mark Cantrell reports

Get with the program

In this age of austerity and localism, reliable information is going to be a must-have commodity for any social landlord looking to meet the ever-growing list of challenges with fewer resources. Technology has a crucial role to play, but its implementation must be about more than gadgets and gizmos – it’s about people too. Mark Cantrell reports

Simpler ways to pay

The Co-operative Bank’s comprehensive Payment Collection Service is helping large public sector organisations to cut costs, without cutting corners

They think it’s all over...

Set against the backdrop of the World Cup 2010 and the much-anticipated emergency Budget, this year’s Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) conference and exhibition in Harrogate was always going to be eventful

AT HOME WITH... Grant Shapps MP

Grant Shapps has scrapped the TSA, but before his keynote speech to delegates in Harrogate, the minister briefed the housing press on his decision. Mark Cantrell went along to find out why he thinks this is good for tenants – and for local democracy

Is society set to march back to Dickens?

Plans to cap and cut Housing Benefit have sent more than just the housing sector reeling. The implications of what the NHF has already called “an onslaught on the vulnerable” are still sinking in, but it is feared the measures will ‘ghettoise’ deprivation and harden social inequalities. Mark Cantrell reports

Considering the consequences

The CIH released a briefing note examining the potential impact of the Government’s changes to Housing Benefit and Local Housing Allowance (LHA). The document gives a detailed overview of what housing providers and local authorities with a strategic housing role may have to face in the coming months and years as the reforms bite.

A paradigm shift in social housing

By Peter Graddon, director, Omfax Systems

Over the past decade there has been a major change in the structure and management of social housing. Housing Associations have led the way in the new approach and many local authorities have opted to migrate their homes to become associations or to create Arms Length Management Organisations (ALMOs) to allow them to change and improve the way they provide social housing.

Getting Training Online

The Getting Training Online website at www.gettingtrainingonline.co.uk has two functions
1. Promote online training
2. Provide online training