around £6,000.

We have continued to work with Birmingham City Council to identify how best housing associations can support the housing growth agenda and provide a wider range of services within neighbourhoods. There are new way of working set out in the Housing Growth Plan, and the devolution agenda for Birmingham has been identified as the appropriate framework to bring this innovation to life.

In May 2014, BSHP presented an offer to the Leader of Birmingham City Council and Chairs of the 10 constituency based districts. This set out specific housing association leads for each of the districts to work within local housing panels to develop local plans for housing and service delivery.

I step down as Chair in June 2014. I would like to thank all of my colleagues who have supported me during my term and I am sure BSHP is positioned to continue to be a key agency within Birmingham.

Summer 2014

BSHP In Brief

Welcome to the 2014 AGM edition of BSHP in Brief.

Birmingham is an exciting, expanding and diverse city. The population is younger than most other cities in the UK and is ‘super diverse,’ originating from over 120 countries across the world. There are also significant challenges with a need to increase housing supply by around 80,000 homes, to strengthen the economic base, and to tackle a range of complex needs – not least the levels of deprivation in neighbourhoods across Birmingham.

Birmingham Social Housing Partnership (BSHP) provides a route for Birmingham-based housing associations to connect with the City Council and other partners to tackle these challenges and improve the lives of local citizens.

The housing associations that operate within Birmingham are also changing. A number of mergers or group structures have created larger regional and

nationally based associations, working alongside the remaining medium sized independent organisations and those that provide for specific needs. This results in a strong and diverse sector, well positioned to tackle the challenges within Birmingham.

The priority for BSHP over the past 12 months has been to ensure it is positioned to meet members’ requirements, and continue to act as a cohesive voice with Birmingham City Council, West Midlands Police and other partners.

The Executive of BSHP has developed a new delivery plan that is focussed on the five priorities around housing growth, housing needs, financial inclusion, employment and health. This was based on the feedback provided by BSHP’s broad membership. Each member of the Executive takes a lead within each of these priorities so there is a clear contact for our partners.

There are a number of new people joining the Executive Team in 2014, which will continue the wider representation of housing associations in Birmingham.

Achieving value for money has been another priority during the year. The Service Level Agreement with the National Housing Federation has been reviewed and the service streamlined to reduce costs from £25,000 per annum to

AGM 2014 edition

BSHP Executive

BSHP Lunchtime briefings 2013/14

The year ahead

List of BSHP Members

Peter Richmond, Chair of BSHP

In this edition:

BSHP executive:Representing Birmingham’s housing associations

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Peter Richmond (BSHP Chair)Chief ExecutiveCastle Vale Community Housing Association

Tony Clark Director of Housing Trident Social Investment Group

Kevin Devlin (Treasurer)Managing DirectorCircle Housing Mercian

Jonathan DriffillManaging DirectorFriendship Care and Housing

Martyn HaleManaging Director Optima Community Association

Lucy HalesDirector of Housing and Care Services Nehemiah UCHA

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BSHP executive:Representing Birmingham’s housing associations

Helen MarsonAssistant Chief ExecutiveBirmingham Civic Housing Association

Annette HomerDirector of Housing and Community ServicesBournville Village Trust

Sue MurrayDirector of HousingBromford Living

Michelle MusgraveCustomer and Communities DirectorMidland Heart

Amanda NichollsDirector of Corporate Housing ServicesAccord Group

Jean TempletonChief ExecutiveSt Basils

BSHP 2013/14 Reports4

Over the next few months we will also be supporting the BSHP Executive to set up it’s own BSHP branded website. This will contain a variety of information and case studies, as well as a calendar focused on BSHPs work.

Disappointingly, one thing that has not changed is the opportunity to build a substantial number of housing association homes in Birmingham. This is still proving challenging, although not from want of effort or enthusiasm.

Birmingham is leading the way with some of its planning policy work. The city’s development plan, the City Deal submission and Greater Birmingham Solihull LEP’s Strategic Economic Plan all set out ambitious targets for the numbers of new homes needed. Unfortunately it is not clear that the council sees a role for housing associations in delivering these new properties.

House prices are seven times the average income in Birmingham. Use of temporary accommodation has increased and Birmingham has seen a 101% increase in the number of housing benefit claimants who are in work over the last two years. A lack of affordable high quality housing is big problem in Birmingham and this impacts on families trying to find a decent home in the city. It also impacts on the local and regional economy. Housing associations could play a key role in providing new homes and supporting the jobs and growth that the council wishes to see.

Federation update - another year of change

I keep hearing from members that they have never been so busy. Welfare reform, changes to allocations, reductions in SP, and a difficult development landscape – these are just some of the

changes drastically affecting the landscape we are operating in.

While work continues at the National Housing Federation to support members to deal with these changes, we have changed too. We have new roles and job titles. I returned from maternity leave last October and I am now an External Affairs Manager. Jean McCarthy who provided amazing support for BSHP over the years has moved on to pastures new. BSHP is now administered part time by Michelle Monks, who also provides administrative support for the Federation.

If you want more information about the changes, or who to contact, please have a look at our ‘Who We Are’ webpages and our new publication:‘Your Federation – what we do and who we are.’

All of these changes have been designed to improve our services to members. Times of transition can be difficult, but as our new structures have come into place, we have continued to support BSHP and housing associations across Birmingham. We supported BSHP with:

• Engaging with the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP)

• Engaging with the council on how housing associations and the council can work together, resulting in opportunities to engage with district structures.

• Providing an up to date events schedule and presentations at meetings

• Delivering a well-attended and informative programme of lunchtime briefings

• Involving BSHP members with the Federation’s national work and consultations

Therefore over the next 12 months the Federation will be working to support BSHP members to engage with the district boards, the Local Enterprise Partnership and to take opportunities in both the city deal and the LEP’s Strategic Economic Plan.

As part of this we want to build a positive atmosphere for more housing by getting Birmingham to sign up for our Yes to Homes campaign.

With the general election less than a year away we know that local politicians will be increasingly keen to know your opinion about your area. This is a perfect opportunity to tell them to make the

BSHP 2013/14 Reports5

What we do

• Influencing decision makers• Helping members prepare for the future• Helping members meet challenges• Locally tailored support• A range of paid for products

Who we are

• Our board, leadership team and strategic management group• Membership and governance• External affairs and member relations• Policy and research• Communications and campaigns• Commercial services• Operations

The ‘Your Federation: What we do and who we are’ publication provides housing associations information about everything the National Housing Federation does, and useful contacts for more support and advice.

building of more homes a top priority.

The leaders of the political parties in the council are able to make the building of more of the right homes, in the right place – and at the right price – a reality. So please let them know of your support for more homes locally and that you want them to say ‘Yes to Homes’. For more information on how to do this visit the Yes to Homes sign up page.

Gemma Duggan, External Affairs Manager National Housing Federation

Homelessness and Housing Needs

The group has continued to meet bi-monthly over the past year. The meetings have been well attended and we have welcomed several new members.

There has been a significant focus on the development of the new Birmingham City Council Allocations Scheme. The group has sent representatives to participate in the development of the scheme and more recently to consider the responses to the consultation. Group representatives were engaged in reviewing the scheme in light of the consultation outcomes. The process has worked well with the group discussing overall principles and these being fed into the review processes.

Other notable pieces of work have included the re-establishment of a workable re-housing protocol between RP’s in the city. This has successfully led to almost 40 emergency moves being facilitated across partners.

Protocols have also been developed to investigate incidents of registered providers’ tenants presenting as homeless and working together to prevent this.

The work plan for the group has been reviewed and has the following key themes:

• Preventing homelessness – developing further the relationship between Birmingham City Council (BCC) and BSHP to prevent homeless in the city.

• Tenancy sustainability – develop a shared understanding of what makes a sustainable tenancy and identify the issues and drivers that lead to tenancy failure and what responses can be established.

• Housing mobility – looking at the effectiveness of housing mobility now and how this can be improved. This will have a focus on welfare reform, best use of stock and move-on arrangements from temporary accommodation.

• Housing allocations scheme – continuing to work with BCC on the implementation of the new scheme.

• Social lettings agency – considering the role of the new agency in supporting the challenges detailed above and the role of RP’s in working with the agency successfully.

Michelle Musgave, Portfolio holder

Housing Supply and Regeneration - Community Safety

Over the last year the BSHP Community Safety Project has gone from strength to strength.

Drawing on the collective strength of over 30 providers and work with

West Midlands Police, Birmingham City Council, West Midlands Fire Service and other statutory and third sector partners, we have seen some fantastic results for our communities and staff.

Feedback from staff and partners is that we are doing really well in some of our partnership work to protect and support our residents, however we still have work to do to improve how we tackle ongoing antisocial behaviour, ensure we are safeguarding where we need to and signposting for those experiencing domestic abuse and hate crime.

During 2014 this work will continue but key achievements for 2013 include:

• Over 300 housing provider staff attended domestic abuse training

• A clear strategy has been developed with partners

• Over 90 cases included housing providers on high risk domestic abuse conferences

• 30 staff accessed evidence and court preparation training

• Vulnerable persons training for over 80 staff

• 30 briefings for housing providers and partners on key community safety areas

• Nine organisations have become hate crime reporting centres

BSHP 2013/14 Reports

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• New tools and powers training for 2014

The group has also started work to improve safeguarding childrens relationships across the city and has worked with partners citywide and in the West Midlands to ensure a consistent approach to new tool and powers.

Peter Richmond, Portfolio holder

Financial InclusionFriendship’s Jonathan Driffill, joint lead on this portfolio with Amanda Nicholls from Accord Group, has regularly attended

the monthly Birmingham Welfare Reform Multi Agency Committee, where he has worked closely with Birmingham City Council’s Head of Benefits to ensure BSHP members able to help maximise the take up of Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP) for social housing residents. A fast track DHP process was agreed with the City Council that ensured that all of the DHP funding made available to the city for 2013/14 were fully allocated for the benefit of social housing residents.

The Multi Agency Committee approach adopted by Birmingham has been recently recognised nationally as an example of good practice particularly because it gives all the partners involved, including BSHP, the ability to make real time adjustments to the city’s Welfare Reform Strategy as events regarding the roll out of welfare reform unfold.

Jonathan also attends the Birmingham Financial Inclusion Partnership as the BSHP representative. Friendship on behalf of BSHP is currently leading on a joint project with BCC and other housing associations, which has identified a Friendship property in Sparkbrook to be used as a training resource/centre for resident trianing in managing tenancies and minimising their bills. The project seeks to capitalise on and develop the work of the City Council’s local lettings suites by providing social residents with training after taking on a tenancy as well as the pre tenancy

training provided by the lettings suites.

The training provided includes managing utility meters and bills, digital inclusion, energy advice, fire safety, benefits advice, and information on credit unions, all of which are aimed at helping customers sustain their tenancies for the long term.

Jonathan has also been invited to be the BSHP representative on the Gateway to Advice Services Strategy Group.

In June 2011, as a pre-cursor to some of the first wave of Welfare Reform changes, a further BSHP sub-group was formed and chaired by Amanda. The Welfare Reform Strategy Group continues to gather momentum and is regularly attended by senior managers of both DWP, Housing Benefits and BSHP members. This has enabled practitioners at all levels to gain an insight into good practice coming from pilot projects, government and DWP thinking on the roll-out of Universal Credit, and the current state of play in Birmingham. Importantly, the group focuses on achieving a joined up approach in delivering consistent services across Birmingham.

Welfare Reform continues to be a key theme for the BSHP lunchtime events and we have had a vast range of speakers come and present what they are doing in response to this. These have included; DWP, Credit Union, CAB, Anthony Collins Solicitors, BCC’s HB team, BCC’s Homelessness team, BCC’s Lettings Team, and Ashram’s Pay Ahead, Stay Ahead (PASA) team.

In September 2013 we saw the official launch of the Big Lottery Financial Inclusion Project, PASA which all members of BSHP are signed up to. The Steering Group for PASA comprises; BCC, Ashram, Friendship, Groundwork, Energy Extra, Birmingham’s Illegal Money Lending Team, Midland Heart, and St Basils. This is proving to be a very exciting area of work a key outcome of which will be to increase the financial confidence of those young people aged between 16 and 24 so as to reduce the likelihood of them suffering the manifestations of financial hardship.

Jonathan Driffill, Portfolio holder Amanda Nicholls, Portfolio holder

BSHP 2013/14 Reports

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Going forward and working together with BSHP members we are looking to engage with all BSHP members to understand employment opportunities with each model and the appetite to engage and develop initiatives.

Further research is planned to understand the Employment Land study and by engaging and influencing local industries, the Chamber of Commerce, and education establishments, we will have greater clarity of the skills training required to meet the current and future demands of the local job market.

Kevin Devlin, Portfolio holder

Health, Care and SupportDuring 2013/14 BSHP has started to engage with health, particularly around older peoples’ issues. In October 2013 BSHP members were asked for expressions of interest to provide short term

accommodation for older people in extra care housing to help prevent delayed discharges from hospital. Four BSHP members are now providing enhanced assessment units in extra care housing settings. The pilot will be monitored with feedback to BSHP members.

In March 2014 BSHP held a lunchtime briefing on Older People - Health and Housing. The speakers gave presentations on how health and housing are working together nationally and in Birmingham. Birmingham CC staff from Adults and Communities attended, making contributions to the discussions. Areas to work on jointly have been identified and are currently being pursued.

Birmingham City Council has confirmed that supporting people funding for older persons schemes will end in March 2015. This is disappointing for the sector but providers will be working closely with BCC to look at possible mitigating actions and risks linked to the decision and to discuss the next steps in terms of implementing the budget decisions.

Lucy Hales, Portfolio holder

BSHP 2013/14 Reports

Employment and Skills It is apparent that many of Birmingham’s Registered Social Landlords have entered into the employment and skills arena, albeit to differing degrees. The absence of a citywide cohesive

approach from the local authority means many of our residents do not have access to employment and skills training opportunities within the city.

Whether we are signposting, running our own employment and skills events, or are having discussions with consultants to set up social enterprises for resident employment, we are all becoming more involved in this key activity at considerable expense in terms of time, resource and funding – but could we be doing it better together?

Our work this year has begun with the BSHP Executive creating some very challenging strategic priorities of which our first focus is:

1. To enable member organisations to maximise training and employment opportunities for residents within Birmingham

By commissioning the National Housing Federation to undertake some specific research to support us, we are conducting a mapping exercise of current employment and skills training providers and services offered within the city. Part of the research included a survey, asking each Registered Social Landlord to set out their own operational approach in sourcing and delivering this training. Once this data has been collated it will, for the first time, provide us with a clear picture of the local ‘as is’ position for all employment and skills training options in Birmingham. By creating and sharing this framework of options available to all BSHP members it will allow us to move on to our next strategic priority:

2. To facilitate collaborative working to create employment opportunities and training through existing frameworks (including BSHP Employment & Skills Training Framework, LEP, Apprentice Schemes, Social Enterprise Schemes)

The National Housing Federation has worked with housing associations across the country to develop a vision for the sector for 2033.

After months of discussion, we are proud to present, ‘An ambition to deliver - housing associations unbounded’.

We want all housing associations to:

• think about the role you want to play that fits with your social purpose

• take the initiative and assert your independence

• sign up to support the vision and let’s start to make it a reality.

Many members have already signed up to endorse this , but we want the whole sector to support it.

You can do this easily, by emailing hothouse@housing.org.uk.

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Presentations are posted online following the lunchtime briefings to encourage those attending to share information with colleagues.

Visit www.housing.org.uk/bshp

Welfare ReformEmma Duke, Anthony Collins Solicitors Malcolm Keyte, 6 Towns Credit UnionSallie Ryan, Social Enterprise West MidlandsChristopher Connor, England Illegal Moneylending Team (BCC)Brenda Spencer, CitisaveJanice Nichols and Emma Cook, Birmingham Citizen’s Advice Bureau Emma Wright, Pay Ahead, Stay AheadStepChange Debt CharitySue Ramsden, National Housing FederationJane Liptrot, DWP Birmingham and Solihull

David Hall, Anthony Collins Solicitors Jim Crawshaw, Birmingham City CouncilMartin O’Neill, Birmingham City Council Stephen Whitehorn, DWP Karen Strandoo, Energy Saving Trust

Health and HousingAmy Swan, National Housing FederationSarah Clee, Midland HeartChris Jones, Waterloo Housing Group

Forthcoming Briefings for 2014/15

All of our lunchtime briefings take place between 12pm and 2pm at Anthony Collins Solicitors, 134 Edmund Street, Birmingham.

Thursday 17 July 2014: Interactive Employment and Skills workshopTuesday 9 September 2014: Welfare ReformThursday 13 November 2014: topic to be confirmed

Presentations

We’re grateful to speakers who have delivered both informative and interesting presentations over the past year and taken part in discussions:

BSHP Lunchtime Briefings 2013/14

If you would like to receive details of BSHP briefings and events direct to your inbox, please get in touch:

National Housing Federation101, Victoria StreetBristol BS1 6PUT: 0117 929 7388E: BSHPadmin@housing.org.uk