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The Chartered Institute of Housing Newsletter of the West Midlands Region » Issue 11, 2012

This newsletter includes examples of good practice and how CIH members are responding, working together and supporting each other to deliver maximum value from our funding and generate the best outcomes for residents.

The Worcestershire Family Intervention Project, funded by five Housing Associations working collaboratively with Worcestershire County Council Children’s Services Directorate, is one such example of how – well ahead of the launch of the Government’s ‘Listening to Troubled Families’ report at the CIH conference in Manchester this year – housing professionals in the Midlands have proactively identified and pooled resources to tackle some of the underlying causes at the root of the problems faced by the most vulnerable families in society.

Other articles demonstrate the support the CIH offers its members – via continuing education, awards to celebrate and promote

Welcome to the second issue of our online newsletterIt would be wonderful if I could say since writing the introduction to the first newsletter last year, that many of the issues and uncertainties we faced in social housing have been resolved. The truth is there are still a great deal of changes and challenges ahead. What doesn’t change is the commitment of housing professionals to adapt, innovate and find solutions to meet the needs of residents and those in need of housing in the Midlands.

best practice and by attendance at key local events like the MNRI annual conference.

By the time you read our next newsletter, we will know more about how the Welfare Reform Act affects the services and support that we provide for residents, and the impact of the Universal Credit and ‘Bedroom Taxes’ on tenants. The CIH will continue to work to try to influence Government, plan ahead and give the best possible guidance to members on how we can best serve residents with our available resources.

Most of all, we will continue to work to create and deliver opportunities for housing professionals to join together; to meet and network, exchange ideas, learn from each other’s experiences and to raise our collective voice so that the best interests of those most in need of affordable housing are heard at the highest and most influential levels. I am proud to represent CIH members in the Midlands, who I know actively work hard every day to achieve the complex balance between the services for existing residents’ needs and the growing need of homeless families or those that are inadequately housed.

If you would like to find out more about any of the articles in this issue of our newsletter, please contact our contributors or committee members for more information. We know how passionate our members are, and the CIH is here to support you by giving appropriate tools and knowledge to do your job effectively.

Juliana CroweChair

Highlights

1Chair’s Opening

2WFIP offers practical support to ‘Troubled Families’

2Regional Good Practice Winner announced

3Studying the Professional Qualification by Blended Learning in the Midlands

3A hat trick achievement for Family Housing

4MNRI conference galvanises housing staff to lobby

6Are you ready for benefit changes?

6CIH selects new chair

7New members say CIH ‘support network is second to none’

8Meet your CIH Committee

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Louise Casey, the Head of the Government’s Troubled Families Programme, launched her

report ‘Listening to Troubled Families’ at this year’s CIH conference in Manchester. The suggested response to help these ‘troubled families’ focused on an approach that many Housing Associations have been delivering and championing for the last few years.

In Worcestershire, five Housing Associations are working with Worcestershire County Council Children’s Services Directorate to fund The Worcestershire Family Intervention Project (WFIP), to help families with complex problems facing multiple sanctions.

The WFIP adopts an approach that, rather than add to family pressures with threats of additional sanctions or focusing on one aspect of family

difficulties leaving others unresolved, offers practical support for families (and statutory services) to make sense of what is happening, the causes and to put together a plan with the family to change things. Each Project Worker holds a caseload of six families, spending several weeks just getting to know each of the family members and unpick the issues impacting on family life. This ensures actual causes of problems are dealt with and not just the consequences or immediate causes.

Staff have a wealth of training and experience in positive parenting, tackling domestic violence, mental health first aid and protective behaviours, and either directly help families find ways to deal with issues, or support families in engaging specialist services. This practical support could include helping family members register with doctors, dentists and attending first appointments until the family member is confident to attend on their own. This approach is especially important with issues like domestic violence, mental ill health or drug and

alcohol addiction, when confidence issues are a barrier to accessing services.Housing providers’ flexibility, focus on meeting actual needs and the fact that many ‘troubled families’ are tenants of social landlords, means that they are ideally suited to develop and host these services. The problem comes with funding an approach that is proven to work and makes sense to families, but cuts across and benefits so many different public services (health, criminal justice, social services and employment).

The WFIP is managed by Vestia Community Trust, part of The Community Housing Trust, and is funded with contributions from Festival Housing, Nexus Housing, Rooftop Housing, Worcester Community Housing, Wyre Forest Community Housing and Worcestershire Council Children Services and Supporting People.

For more information on the project, please email admin@wfip.org.uk.

WFIP offers practical support to ‘Troubled Families’

The West Midlands Regional Committee has celebrated excellence in its region with the recent announcement of the 2012 winner of its Good Practice Award.

The theme of this year’s award was Housing Organisations’ contributions to ‘Opportunities to Work’. Capita – this year’s award sponsors and part of the judging panel – is a regular supporter of the CIH West Midlands Region and CIH nationally, and has long been at the forefront of recruiting for the public sector, charities and not-for-profit organisations.

In October, the panel – including members of the Regional Committee and a representative from our

sponsor – announced the shortlisted submissions as:• Back to Work – Moorlands Housing• Business Transformation Project at

Friendship Care and Housing• Opportunities to work – Marches

Housing Association.

The award was won by The Business Transformation Project and presented to Friendship’s managing director Jonathan Driffill and Training Manager Carina Monnelly-Owen at the West Midlands Regional Award Ceremony at Birmingham City University on 1st November 2012. A delighted Carina said: “It’s a real sense of achievement to have won... Our submission focused on valuing our workforce and engaging with all staff. This includes

consultation, involvement, reward and recognition, recruitment, fairness, comprehensive training programmes, qualifications, working groups and external accreditation.” Look out for the opportunity to find out more about Friendship’s Business Transformation Project, which will be showcased at a CIH West Midlands Regional Event in 2013.

Regional Good Practice Winner Announced

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The CIH has developed a range of distance learning qualifications for housing practitioners seeking to develop their skills and knowledge for working in housing. The Professional Qualification by Blended Learning – the main qualification for housing workers seeking to become professionally qualified and gain Chartered Membership – is now being delivered in the Midlands, and combines study by distance learning with face-to-face tutor-provided support.

There are six modules comprising the Level 4 Certificate in Housing

Practice (the first part of the Level 4 qualification in Housing Practice) and studying the blended learning route will give students one day of contact per module with a tutor who will guide them through the study materials and assignment requirements.

The CIH professional qualification is the recognised industry standard for anyone who wants to develop their career in housing. Course assignments are designed to be relevant to students and their organisation, developing their knowledge of the whole housing system, supporting them in their current role and giving grounding that will serve as a foundation for their

work in the future. The course also provides the opportunity to step back from day to day work and to reflect on alternative approaches organisations could consider.

For a full course pack visit www.cih.org/distancelearningcourses, or contact the CIH Distance Learning team on 024 7685 1789 by email via dlc@cih.org.

Contributed by Veronica Coatham, Head of Division Housing and Community Studies, Birmingham City University, and Distance and Blended Learning Tutor, CIH

Studying the Professional Qualification by Blended Learning in the Midlands

Family Housing, an affordable housing provider owning and managing more than 2,500 affordable homes across Birmingham, Sandwell, Solihull and Warwickshire, was recently presented with a trio of accreditations for its working practices.

Family was first recognised for its commitment to its staff with a bronze Investors in People award, followed by success in achieving the Matrix Standard for staff advice and guidance services for residents. Family was then praised for its robust approach to involving residents in how the housing

association is run, its high quality information resources for residents (which residents helped to develop), its staff consultation sessions and its effective approach to partnership working with other organisations, as it achieved the Customer Service Excellence standard.

Tim Sewell, chief executive of Family, said: “I’m immensely pleased with what these accreditations say about Family’s approach to our staff and residents. We are working hard to deliver the services we provide to our residents to as high a standard as possible. To have independent feedback that we put our residents at the heart of what we do is a welcome recognition of our efforts to fully engage with our residents to improve the services we provide.”

(left to right) Jackie Molloy, assistant director people and performance, Selena Ellis, project coordinator and Victoria Young, business improvement manager at Family Housing, celebrate their awards success.

A hat trick achievement for Family Housing

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Frontline housing professionals and tenants have galvanised to lobby and influence Government to shape future policy at the Midland Network for Resident Involvement (MNRI) annual conference held at Wolverhampton Racecourse on 4th September. With an exhibition showcasing industry suppliers, consultants and bodies – including CIH – and professionals from both inside and outside the sector facilitating workshops on some of the hottest topics in town, the conference attracted some 200 frontline housing staff and social housing customers, representing resident involvement and community development staff from more than 60 housing organisations across the Midlands.

The agreement that members of MNRI should make more of their position coincided with a Cabinet reshuffle that saw Mark Prisk appointed as Housing Minister, and has prompted a flurry of activity, with the National Housing Federation drafted in to deliver a session to MNRI members and involve residents on lobbying and influencing Government. The launch of the lobbying and influencing group on 16th November is being facilitated by Chloe Hardy, who is Head of Campaigns at the NHF. This will steer a targeted and focused campaign to highlight the difficulties that residents are facing with the welfare reforms and dispel some of the myths that the tabloids peddle about those living in social housing.

Chris Pinson-Bradley, Chair of the Network, will be contacting the heads of the four national tenant organisations including TPAS, CCH, TAROE and NFTMO, with a view to delivering a united campaign. He said: “Members of MNRI are all frontline professionals who work with residents, so we see the social and human impact – good and bad – of government decisions. We work in the field at the sharp end and it makes sense to use our collective experience and knowledge to inform and shape policy.

For further details, please contact MNRI Chair Chris Pinson-Bradley on 01902 557233 or email christopher.pinson-bradley@heantun.co.uk

MNRI conference galvanises housing staff to lobby

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“It certainly feels that now is the right time to develop a lobbying and influencing function within MNRI. Not only do we have a new minister but the sector and relevant legislation continues to develop, not least in terms of the Welfare Reform Act.”

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The Government’s welfare reforms are bringing substantial chages to the benefits system that will have a significant impact on social housing for both housing providers and their customers.

Although changes apply mostly to tenants who are of working age, many will see a reduction in housing benefit, requiring them to find more money to make up their rent. This will result in less money available to spend on running their households and a potential reduction in standard

of living, at a time when other costs – including food and fuel – are increasing above the rate of inflation. Tenants in underoccupied homes will be faced with a further reduction in benefits for each ‘unused’ bedroom in their property, though a move to smaller property is not always an option.

Housing providers need to adjust business plans to anticipate a fall in income, coupled with increased rent arrears (leading in turn to an increase in evictions), collection costs and court applications for rent possessions.

Better provision for bad debt will be required, as will the promotion of bank accounts/credit union accounts to tenants, in which to receive their new universal credit payments. The additional financial pressure exerted on some households will result in tension as they are require to find more in their budgets to contribute towards housing costs, so housing providers should seek to strengthen money advice and income services available and continue to support schemes to help unemployed tenants back into work where available.

The Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) aims to bolster its Governing Board with the appointment of a new chair, Turlogh O’Brien CBE. Turlogh is chair of the L&Q Group board and also sits on the council of the University of Southampton. He was previously chair of the Construction Industry Council, and has a wealth of experience across the industry.

It was his knowledge and passion for both the housing and education sectors that appealed to the CIH’s recruitment panel, who voted unanimously to recommend him as chair of the CIH Governing Board.

Robin Lawler, president of CIH, said: “We are thrilled to recommend Turlogh’s appointment to our membership at CIH’s AGM in June and would be delighted to welcome him to the Governing Board.

“CIH is no doubt going to benefit from his leadership and the invaluable experience he brings to this role. Our organisation is focused on growth and on putting our members at the heart of CIH.

Turlogh is equally positive about joining CIH. He said: “I’m delighted my appointment has been approved by the membership and am very excited about my new role.

“Leading the professional body for housing through change will be a fascinating and challenging task. I have held a deep interest in housing and professionalism throughout my career and I am convinced of CIH’s immense capacity as an organisation to help the profession to be brilliant.

“I look forward to working with the Governing Board, with Robin as president and with Grainia and her executive team.”

Countering the impact of Welfare Reforms on Social Housing

CIH selects new chair

“We have been increasingly investing in our knowledge to ensure that across our organisation we are providing housing professionals with the advice and support they need to effect change in their organisations and the communities they serve, and Turlogh will be integral in overseeing this change.”

The West and East Midlands CIH Annual Conference will be held on 17th - 18th October 2013 at the Crowne Plaza, Broad Street, Birmingham. The format of the event is being changed for 2013 to focus on a one day conference and gala awards dinner. Please look out for more information coming soon from CIH West Midlands.

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Since its launch earlier this year, the Chartered Institute of Housing’s member get member campaign has attracted over 50 new members.

The scheme, which encourages existing members to nominate colleagues who they feel would benefit from being part of the organisation, offers those nominated the first three months of their membership for free.

Robin Lawler, CIH president, said he is delighted with the feedback from new members: “Those who’ve joined so far have told us they’re pleased to have been nominated for membership – it’s real recognition from CIH, and from their colleagues, of their commitment to the housing profession.

“We launched the member get member campaign as a way of celebrating the excellent work carried out by thousands of professionals across the housing sector, and to recognise their contribution to the profession and the wellbeing of communities.”

Dave Hellier is a new member who was nominated for membership by Karen Doran, a director at CIH consultancy, and says that being nominated was a ‘nice surprise’.

Dave said: “I would say that if anyone was interested in joining CIH they shouldn’t think twice. The support network CIH has across all disciplines within housing is second to none, and there is always someone to help signpost you to the best advice around.

“CIH is most definitely about all aspects of housing – finance, asset management, sheltered and supported housing and development to mention a few… and any housing professional will without hesitation benefit from being a member.”

If you would like to nominate colleagues through the member get member scheme, it’s quick and easy – we’ve provided a number of resources to help you, as a member, to talk about membership and nominate your contacts. Visit the member get member campaign page to find out more, access your toolkit and complete the online nomination form.

I want to nominate someone – what should I do now?• Send an email to your nominees,

explaining why you’d like to nominate them for CIH membership

• Tell them that if they join before the end of 2012, they will receive the first three months of their

subscription absolutely free• Ask them to commit to the three

pledges• Ask them to complete a short online

form and our membership team will do the rest.

New members say CIH ‘support network is second to none’

“For me, personally and professionally, membership is about keeping up to date with what is going on in the sector, through journals, newsletters and briefings, and the training courses and brilliant events I can access. The member get member campaign is a great way for non-members to get an insight into the wider housing world. CIH definitely broadens your horizons and gives you lots of opportunities to network with other colleagues in the sector”.Catharine Hinton, Programme Manager (Talent Management and Higher Level Skills) at Asset Skills. Catharine has been a CIH member for 15 years and has nominated colleagues in recognition of their contribution.

Next issue – contributions welcome

We hope you’ve enjoyed reading this issue of the West Midland’s newsletter ‘Branchline WM’. If you have any comments or ideas about the newsletter, we’d love to hear from you. We’re especially keen to receive any information that we could include as articles for the next issue.

Please send your ideas and any suggestions to any of the committee officers, Celeste Deakin (CIH Support Co-ordinator) at celestedeakin@cih.org.uk or to Sarah Smith (Co-ordinating Editior) at Sarah.Smith@wates.co.uk

Advertising opportunities

Did you know that this newsletter reaches the home addresses of 2,000 people working in housing in the West Midlands? So, why not promote your organisation’s new services by taking advantage of our cost-effective advertising opportunities:

Quarter Page Ad in newsletter £150Half page ad in newsletter £250Full page ad in newsletter £500Flyer insert by quote

For more information, please contact Sarah Smith on 07825 061034 or email: Sarah.Smith@wates.co.uk

ChairJuliana Crowe Rooftop Housing Group 70 High Street, Evesham, Worcestershire WR11 4YD T: 01386 420851 E: juliana.crowe@rooftopgroup.org

Vice ChairChris Pinson-Bradley Heantun Housing Association Ltd 3 Wellington Road, Bilston, Wolverhampton WV14 6AA T: 01902 557233 E: christopher.pinson-bradley@heantun.co.uk

Policy Officer Nick Parker Vestia Community Trust 3 Foley Grove, Foley Business Park, Kidderminster, Worcestershire DY11 7PT T: 01562 732 344 E: nick.parker@vestia.org.uk

Membership Officer Nirmal Samrai Shropshire Housing Group Talbot House, High Street, Wem, Shropshire SY4 5AA T: 0300 303 1190 E: nirmal.samrai@shropshirehousing.co.uk

Secretary & Communications Officer Sarah Smith Wates Living Space 11 Ridgeway, Quinton Business Park Birmingham B32 1AF T: 0121 423 2323 E: sarah.smith@wates.co.uk

Education and Professional Development Officer Veronica Coatham Birmingham City University School of Social Sciences Dawson Building Perry Barr, Birmingham B42 2SU T: 0121 331 5159 E: veronica.coatham@bcu.ac.uk

Student Ambassador Thomas Mountford Cannock Chase District Council Civic Centre PO Box 28 Beecroft Road Cannock WS11 1BG T: 01543 464459 E: thomasmountford@cannockchasedc.gov.uk

Committee member Helen Scurr HS Housing Consultancy 21 Dulwich Grange, The Grange, Bratton TF5 0ED T: 01952 223255 E: helenscurr@yahoo.co.uk

Committee member Catherine Stubbings Celandine Strategic Housing 81 Churchway, Haddenham, HP17 8DT T: 01432 870750 E: cs@celandineconsulting.co.uk

Committee member Rishi Spolia Bromford Living 5 Stowe Road, Lichfield WS13 6WA T: 01543 420 926 E: rishi.spolia@bromford.co.uk

Committee member Jason Holder Bromford Group 5 Stowe Road, Lichfield WS13 6WA T: 01543 420862 F: 01543 420911 E: jason.holder@bromford.co.uk

Treasurer Judith Rowe Midland Heart Ltd, 20 Bath Row, Birmingham B15 1LZ T: 07771 835568 E: judith.rowe@midlandheart.org.uk

Committee Member Paul Forsythe Severnside Housing Brassey Road, Old Potts Way, Shrewsbury SY3 7FA T: 07812 604318 E: paul.forsythe@severnsidehousing.co.uk

Committee member Jenny Herbert Aspire Group Kingsley, The Brampton, Newcastle under Lyme ST5 0QN T: 01782 854850 E: jherbert@aspiregroup.org.uk

Meet your CIH Committee

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The Chartered Institute of Housing

Chartered Institute of Housing Newsletter of the West Midlands region. Published by the Chartered Institute of Housing Newsletter of the West Midlands branch

Octavia House Westwood Way Coventry CV4 8JP

Issue 11: Autumn 2012

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