Last week, and to great fanfare, the TSA published for
consultation its proposed new Regulatory Framework. The Framework
presents significant risks and new opportunities for social housing
providers. It is crucial that your organisation gets to grips with
these as quickly as possible because the clock is already ticking
down towards 1 April 2010, when the new Framework comes into
force.
Key parts of the new Framework that will impact on you include:
- The responsibility placed on providers to involve and empower residents to participate in discussions on providers' future strategic plans;
- The move towards co-regulation, requiring providers to consider using external validation, independent audit and peer review where appropriate;
- The fact that all local authority housing departments owning housing stock are to be directly regulated by the TSA and this regulation will impact on Almos;
- The introduction of "local area co-operation" under which providers have to identify and publish the roles they will play within areas, taking into account their presence and impact where they have properties.
The TSA has said it intends to get rid of more than 50 Circulars
that housing associations are currently expected to follow. They
will be replaced by six "standards" covering tenant
involvement and empowerment; home (including repairs and
maintenance); tenancy (including allocations and rent);
neighbourhood and community (including anti-social behaviour);
value for money; and governance and financial viability. These
national standards are to be complemented by local (area-specific)
standards that are to be negotiated with tenants.
As soon as possible after 1 April 2010, and by 1 October 2010, all
registered providers with more than 1000 properties will be
required to publish a report for their tenants setting out how they
already meet, or plan to meet, each of the national standards and
explaining how they plan to develop local standards. Local
standards need to be in place no later than 1 April 2011.
Going forward, each provider will have to publish an annual report
explaining its performance against the six standards.
Support for you
- For organisations looking to hit the ground running on the
proposed Regulatory Framework, we have devised two fixed price
tools that can be delivered in-house for you:
o The Briefing: to help your leadership team understand and assimilate the most significant aspects of the new Framework;
o The Regulatory Workshop: to help your organisation put in place an effective response to the new Regulatory Framework in good time. - In the coming weeks, we will be issuing a series of ebriefings on the implications of the new Regulatory Framework.
- We will be running a series of regional
seminars on the new Framework during December 2009 and
January 2010 in:
o Kegworth (2 December 2009) (in conjunction with the NHF)
o Cambridge (3 December 2009) (in conjunction with the NHF)
o Birmingham (December 2009)
o London (January 2010)
o Manchester (January 2010)
o Bristol (January 2010)
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.