Pennine Communities Federation of
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5 Lister Court |
Janette Dunne, North Halifax/Lower Valley Operations Manager attended the February Federation meeting to update us on Pennine's progress in signing up to the Government's RESPECT agenda. She explained to the meeting that the Government's RESPECT agenda was about making a clear statement to communities that Anti-Social Behaviour will not be tolerated. RESPECT is about prevention, intervention and support. Janette outlined the self-assessment process Pennine is currently undertaking to identify any gaps in the current service delivery, prior to signing up to the RESPECT agenda. She explained that Pennine could 'sign up' tomorrow but they want to ensure that everything is in place before making such a major commitment.
Janette particularly wanted to focus her presentation to the meeting on the development of Good Neighbour Agreements:
Good Neighbour Agreements can be used for different purposes and in different ways. The overarching aim, however, is to promote positive behaviour. In addition, Good Neighbour Agreements:
Good Neighbour Agreements can be used to do one or more of the following:
The benefits of Good Neighbour Agreements should be:-
Janette explained that Pennine would not be looking to develop Good Neighbour Agreements for every estate. Pennine is planning to set up a working group to look at developing a criteria which would help to identify where Good Neighbour Agreements could be used as an effective tool to reduce Anti Social behaviour - the type of areas which would benefit from such an agreement would be estates with multiple problems e.g. high turnover of properties, anti-social behaviour problems, etc. Janette stated that she hoped that she would get some volunteers from the Federation to be involved in developing the Good Neighbour Agreement criteria.
If you are interested in getting involved in this working group ring the Federation Office on 01422 365281 and leave a message on the ansaphone.
Pennine Housing 2007/08 Rent Increase
Amanda Garrard attend the February Federation meeting to explain the 2007/08 rent increases.
Calculating the rent increase
The amount Pennine increases its rent by is now determined by the Government's national rent setting policy, which applies to all Housing Associations and Councils. It is the Government's intention that by 2012 it shouldn't matter whether you are a tenant with a Housing Association or the Council, your rent will be calculated in the same way - this is called Rent Convergence and every property will have a target rent.
Most Pennine rents are currently below the Government's target rent, this means that each annual rent increase will have to carefully calculated to ensure that they reach the 2012 target. This is made more difficult because of the need to converge new and existing tenants rent levels and also to continue to meet the targets in the 30 year business plan.
Support Charges
Amanda explained that Support Charges were paid by tenants living in Sheltered Housing. She further explained that the charges had not been altered since 2003 but that during a recent Supporting People inspection carried out independently by the Council it had been recommended that Pennine review the charges; reducing the higher charge but increasing the lower charge. Amanda explained that the vast majority of Sheltered tenants receive Supporting People grant so the impact of the changes would be minimal.
Garage Rents
Amanda explained that Pennine was spending more on garages that they were receiving in income - currently spending £270,000 annually but only charging £190,000 in rent. She pointed out that a high proportion of the people who rent garage were not Pennine tenants and therefore the cost of providing garages was being subsidised by Pennine tenants. The new rents are set out in the table below:
Current |
Proposed |
Proposed |
|
Garage |
£3.55 wk |
£7.00 wk |
£10.00 wk |
Garage Site |
£29.00 pa |
£31.00 pa |
£32.00 pa |
Big Picture Working Group - Ruth Rider
Ruth and Richard Guillot recently attended the launch of the Council's Housing Strategy. Ruth has outlined the Council's housing priorities until 2010:
1. Affordability, availability and choice
Increase the supply and range of housing stock
Implement choice based lettings
Improve monitoring and keeping up to date all housing markets.
2. Condition and sustainability of existing stock
Develop investment plan to improve houses and increase energy efficiency. Encourage landlords to maintain and secure funding for this.
3. Link housing plans to regeneration agenda
Convert local mills and commercial buildings to residential use to help maintain local employment. Make use of powers available to ensure all houses are inhabited.
4. Preventing homelessness and helping the homeless
Helping homeless people to find and keep suitable homes and help them to access health services.
5. Promoting community safety
To reduce anti-social behaviour and to find ways to prevent this before it gets out of hand. To help prevent domestic violence and provide support when it occurs.
6. Safety and energy efficiency in homes
Help to take advantage of grant funding to improve efficiency of heating in homes; 17% of Calderdale residents have fuel poverty. To raise awareness of safety in the home by working with police, fire departments and others.
The Big Picture Working Group will be meeting with Mark Thompson, Head of Housing, Calderdale MBC on the 12th March and will report back on the outcome the meeting to the next full federation meeting.
Training Working Group - Chris Lates
There has been a fantastic response to the recent training needs survey and the working group now has a clear indication about the type of training that Federation members need providing.
Committee Skills
The Training Working group has recently met with Marilyn Sutcliffe from Calderdale Council's Adult Learning section and a proposal has been put together which would enable the Federation to deliver a 12 week Committee Skills Course from September 2007.
IT Classes
We have also been discussing the current IT classes provided by the Federation and have concluded that the current delivery does not necessarily provide the best value for money. The Working Group proposes to develop a new arrangement which includes adding 2 IT sessions on to the Committee Skills course, ensuring that every participant gets a basic introduction to using a computer.
Additionally, we will be setting up a weekly IT club - staffed by the Tenant Involvement Workers - where tenant group representatives can come along and share knowledge and learn new skills. The Tenant Involvement workers have agreed to refer anyone wanting to produce newsletters, flyers, etc to the IT club rather than coming to Bull Green House.
Additionally, Adult Learning have offered to provide a number of one day courses free of charge to cover topics like newsletter production, accounting, fundraising, publicity, etc.
Stop Press...Stop Press...Stop Press...Stop Press...Stop Press...Stop Press...Stop Press..
The IT Club will begin on Tuesday 17th April 2007, 10.00--12.00pm at the Federation Office, Lister Ct, Halifax. For more information ring Jo or Beverley on 01422 284520.
TARA (Tenant Associations) Liaison Working Group - Eric Sutcliffe
The TARA Liaison Working group has recently written to all Tenants Associations asking if they would like a presentation at one of their meetings about the role of the Federation.
They have also now finalised the Federation information leaflet and this has also been circulated to groups, as well as being put on the Federation website.
Richard Guillot visited each of the Housing Offices team meetings to explain the role of the Federation and tell them about the changes which have recently been implemented. Richard has also arranged for the Federation's newsletters to be made available for tenants in each housing office.
Keep up the good work!!!
Quite a few people have now mentioned what a great job the new Management team and the Working Groups are doing.Quite a few people have now mentioned what a great job the new Management team and the Working Groups are doing.
There's a lot of new and exciting things starting to happen in the Federation. The feedback from the New Year party was fantastic and plans are already in place for next year's event.
It has been suggested that the Federation should organize a social event during the summer -- one idea is to have a picnic in People's Park, or what about a quiz night, each association could enter a team?
If you've got any idea for an event ring Sue Molineux on 01484 716026 or mention it at the next Fed' meeting.
Chris Lates has been elected as the new Federation Board Observer to work with Bert Swaine. Bert and Chris will be reporting back to each Federation meeting about what's happening at Pennine Board meetings.
Carol Coles, Heather Stacey, Grace Paradise, Vera Benney, Margaret Coupe and Bill Stafford have all volunteered for the Jargon Busting team. The purpose of the Jargon Busters is to proof read any new Pennine Housing publication to ensure that it's 'tenant friendly' - no easy task!!!!
If you see this logo on a Pennine leaflet it shows you that the 'Jargon Busters' have been there before you try to make sure every leaflet is fit for purpose!
If you want to join the Jargon Busters ring Jo or Beverley on 01422 284520
Don't forget the next meeting
The next Federation meeting is 7pm, Wednesday 26th April 2007, venue to be confirmed.
At the meeting there will be a presentation about Pennine's proposals for improving efficiency and the lettable standards for void (empty) properties.
We are also going to ask the Council to attend the next meeting to tell us all about Local Area Agreements (LAA's) and to explain what difference they will make to our communities.
Everybody Welcome
Stub it out!!!!!
The no smoking ban in all enclosed public places - such as offices, factories, pubs and restaurants - will come into force across the whole of the UK by July 2007. Pennine Housing already has a policy in place regarding smoking in its offices, however some tenants associations still allow smoking in their community rooms but this will have to stop once the ban comes into force.
Using the Fed' Office
If you want to use the Federation Office at 5 Lister Court, Halifax please contact the Booking Secretary, Mary Battye on Halifax 01422 205665 to check that it's not already being used on that day. Mary will also be able to sort out for someone to open the office up.
Pennine Communities Federation of Tenants & Residents Association (PCFTRA)
5 Lister Court Halifax HX1 5DR
Tel: 01422 365281
E-mail: federation1@tiscali.co.uk
Website: www.penninefederation.org.uk
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