Available Now: Independent Stock Transfer Advice for Torfaen Tenants…..

Tenant Members of the Torfaen Authority-Wide Tenant Compact Group, (AWC), have recently confirmed that the appointment of the Independent Tenant Advisor for Torfaen Tenants has been agreed by the Local Authority, and that access to advice regarding the proposed Large Scale Voluntary Transfer, (LSVT), of Council Housing in Torfaen to a newly created Registered Social Landlord, (RSL), is now available to every Torfaen County Borough Council Tenant.

Mr. Patrick Harkness, Ms. Kathryn Williams and Mr. Jonathan Evans form the Torfaen Team from TACT@ DOME the Newport based Independent Advisors appointed by the AWC after an exhaustive, in-depth and extremely robust interview process. The AWC members felt that the knowledge and experience of the TACT @ DOME team was by far the most extensive that we encountered during the interview process, and perhaps more importantly, the Team’s ability to fully engage with their audience and their enthusiasm for taking on the task confirmed their ability to attract a high level of tenant interest and involvement in the stock transfer process up to and including the Tenant Ballot was not only obvious, but also proved very infectious.

Patrick and the team are under no illusions as to the enormity of the task before them nor the variety, quality and standard of service required of them by the AWC. The Team have very much ‘hit the ground running’ meeting with the AWC to establish Tenants’ priorities and to begin to put together a programme of events designed to reach as many tenants as possible right across the borough. The Team will introduce themselves in the form of a Newsletter very shortly, and if you have any queries regarding the stock transfer process or concerns that your working patterns might exclude you form the process entirely, then you can contact the TACT @ DOME Team at anytime on:

FREE PHONE: 0800 919 994

TEXT: 07867 510977

Suite 6& 7

Shirehall

Newport

South Wales

NP20 5HB

www.domeconsultants.co.uk

Physability Squad

Regulations applying to ‘New Build’ Social Housing and a Proposed New Registered Social Landlord present a unique opportunity for the thousands of Physically Disabled tenants of Torfaen County Borough Council, and a number of these have decided to get together as a group that will provide a voice in consultation for those tenants in Torfaen that need any kind of adaptation to their homes from a Handrail to a Bathroom conversion.

The Physability Squad would also very much like to become active members of the Local Neighbourhood and Authority-Wide Tenant Compact Groups, where we will raise and hopefully resolve issues of Policy and Procedure that already affect Squad members on a daily and Borough-Wide basis. The Physability Squad will also wish to consult with Housing Services, the Independent Tenant Advisor and the Housing Choices Team on the services that the proposed new Landlord may wish to provide to physically disabled tenants, and the manner in which those services are delivered and of course charged.

The horror stories that we hear affecting our near neighbours in relation to their recent transfer of ownership and regeneration of their bungalows cannot possibly be allowed to happen to any of our vulnerable tenants in Torfaen. The Physability Squad are determined to do everything in their power to make sure that the rights and needs of physically disabled tenants are properly taken into account, are properly budgeted for, are delivered according to need, and not simply down to a price.

The Physability Squad doesn’t pretend to have all the answers, doesn’t discount the opinions and ideas of others, has every respect for the knowledge and experience of the ‘Professional’, but we do insist that whatever the disability, the true ‘Expert’ is the person that lives with that particular disability day in day out. Professionals as we know get to take holidays, when was the last time a physically disabled tenant that you know took a day off from their disability?

We understand how difficult it is for Physically Disabled tenants and their Carers to leave the house for even the shortest or most important trip. We are fully aware that the majority of these trips are usually for Doctors or Hospital appointments, and that the amount of effort and forward planning that goes into each and every one of these trips makes full-scale military manoeuvres pale into insignificance. That is exactly why we are determined that no matter how frivolous, serious or important the subject, Physability Squad meetings will be properly organised, held at accessible venues, and will cater for the needs of Carers, transportation and any dietary requirements, but most of all, we are absolutely committed to making Physability Squad meetings and social events stimulating, enjoyable and fun!!

If you have problems that make living in your home a physical challenge, or would dearly like to visit your neighbour for a cup of tea and a chat, if only she didn’t have that step at the bottom of her path? Then the Physability Squad is for YOU!! You don’t need to attend any meetings either. If you don’t want or don’t feel able to come along, there’s always a member of the Squad to listen to your concerns and to address them on your behalf.

You are welcome to join the Physability Squad as an Active or Affiliated Member if you are a Torfaen County Borough Council tenant, you have any physical disability that makes life difficult for you, or you care for someone else who does. Further details of the Physability Squad and how to join will be available in early March 2006.

Confused Already? We Certainly Are!!

If you are a resident of Torfaen then you may have by now received and read the latest November 2005 edition of ’Torfaen Talks’? It is described by whichever department that produces it as “Your Community Newspaper” and this edition is carrying the front page headline

Tenants will vote

If like us, you are a Torfaen County Borough Council tenant, then you may well have also received a November 2005 ’Tenancy News Special’? This publication presumably sanctioned and produced by the Housing Services Department, dedicated entirely to the subject of ‘Stock Transfer’, and carrying the front page headline

Why is the Council Looking at Stock Transfer?

An overheard discussion in a Pontypool public house on Saturday evening seems to suggest that the three people involved in the discussion at the very least, found the information contained within these two publications contradictory and confusing, with one participant clearly under the misapprehension that the Leader of the Council had stated that Council houses in Torfaen would be sold to Gwerin, Eastern Valley and Seren Housing Associations in eighteen months to two years time.

The second argued that the houses would in fact be given to the Associations at around this time next year, whilst the third was convinced that the houses will be sold to Councillors, tenants and businesses in Torfaen by Christmas. So convinced was participant number three, that she had tried in vain to ring the Free Phone number for confirmation but got fed up after an hour because nobody answered?

So which of them was right? Well, you would think that at least one of them would have to be wouldn’t you? In fact, none of them were correct, although none of them were totally wrong either!!

The poor chap convinced that the houses will be sold to existing Housing Associations in eighteen months to two years, was probably closest in terms of timing, however, the involvement of the three Housing Associations currently operating within Torfaen, he had unfortunately confused with another article in ’Torfaen Talks’ which highlighted a scheme apparently designed to create affordable housing within the borough, and which of course has nothing at all to do with the process of Stock Transfer. Allowing for a Shandy or two having been consumed, confusing the two articles was perhaps understandable, and whilst Cllr. Wellington had been slightly misquoted, his words were read and at least partially understood.

We have to applaud the Council Leader Cllr. Bob Wellington, Executive Member for Housing and Community Safety Cllr. Gwyneira Clark, Paul Murphy MP and our own Authority-Wide Tenant Compact Group Chair Mr. Lyn Weaver for the concise yet comprehensive, rational and non-emotive manner in which the complicated necessity and process of Stock Transfer has been handled to date within ’Torfaen Talks’. We hope that this situation continues throughout the Stock Transfer process.

Ms. Giving the houses away next year, was also perhaps just as right as she was incorrect.

How?

According to the Welsh Assembly Government Guidelines on Stock Transfer, the timetable could, if tenants allow, lead up to a Tenant Ballot as early as Autumn 2006. However, even if this were the case, the actual process of transfer could take another year or perhaps more to complete. The fact is that nobody knows when the actual Stock Transfer Tenant Ballot will take place, and in our opinion, the information within the ’Tenancy News Special’ should not have created the impression that the date of the Tenant Ballot was already determined.

Interestingly, “Sold to Councillors tenants and businesses by Christmas” appeared to be a member of the same household as Mr. Existing Housing Associations, and once again appeared just as right as she was wrong, as whilst the question of whether the houses will be sold or given away is as complicated as it is controversial? Much more understanding of the Stock Transfer process as a whole would be required to even begin to enter that debate, and now is hardly the time. However, it is proposed that the Board or Management Committee of the new Landlord would be made up of one third Councillors, one third Tenants and one third Independent Members with relevant experience. These members of course could, but will not necessarily be drawn exclusively from the Corporate Sector.

There are one or two things that the ’Tenancy News Special’ has reported correctly, but unfortunately in our opinion, the Housing Services Department and the Stock Transfer team appear to have chosen to ignore our requests and advice, and for reasons known only to themselves chosen to publish misleading and incorrect information, although why they should wish to confuse and mislead tenants at this stage in the process should be left to the imagination?

Tenant Compact Group members are indeed involved in the process of the appointment of an Independent Tenant Advisor, and we hope that this process will be completed as quickly as possible. The Authority-Wide Tenant Compact Group met with the Stock Transfer Project Leader on Monday of last week, and requested that the process should slow down until the Independent Tenant Advisor is appointed. This was, or so we thought, agreed?

Tenant Compact Group members raised concerns about the Public meetings on the subject of Stock Transfer scheduled to take place this week and next, as members did not feel that we could not yet adequately answer your questions from a Tenant’s perspective, and that the Tenant Participation Officer would not be present at a number of these meetings as she would be accompanying Tenant Delegates at the 2005 TPAS Cymru/Welsh Tenants Federation joint conference. Should you attend any of the public meetings scheduled for Wednesday the 16th, Thursday 17th, or Friday 18th November and the Tenant participation Officer is not present , then at least now you will know why?

There are many different methods of getting your views across, your questions answered or becoming more involved in the Stock Transfer process and becoming a member of your Local Neighbourhood Compact Group is just one of them. We had hoped that a coordinated and professional approach would have been adopted toward Tenant Involvement, and One might be forgiven for thinking that an out of hours answering service on a Free Phone telephone number launched at the weekend might have been an obvious and reasonable start?

We will do our very best to keep you up to date on the progress of the Stock Transfer process, and will inform you as soon as the Independent Tenant Advisor is appointed. In the meantime, we can only hope that you are not too disadvantaged by the confusion that presently abounds.

Swings and Roundabouts

Over the coming weeks and months, we will doubtless find lots of examples of Large Scale Voluntary Transfer, Partial and Trickle Transfers where tenants have either gained on the swings, or lost on the roundabouts?

Just a few short weeks into Stock Transfer process in Torfaen, Tenant Compact Group members have been fortunate enough to have formed a link with a Housing Association which despite its geographical differences, could be the closest to a mirror image of Torfaen as we are ever likely to find.

South Somerset Homes, has an almost identical Tenant population, similar types and variety of dwellings, and an uncanny mix of urban, semi-rural and rural areas within its boundaries split just as is the case in Torfaen, into four distinct Tenant Compact or Partnership areas. Being approximately six years old, the run up to ballot should perhaps be a distant memory for them by now, but the fact that a 'Yes' vote to LSVT was by a majority of, we believe to have been less than seventy tenants, it is little wonder that the Tenant Board Members find the ballot difficult to forget?

We understand that South Somerset Homes are on target to exceed the 'Decent Homes' standard ahead of their 2010 deadline, and are already building affordable Social Housing available to rent and remarkably to buy for less than half the price of a Ministerial Jaguar! Clearly a Stock Transfer success story,(unless you know different? ) , we believe that the link we have formed will become an invaluable source of information and advice, so much so, that one of our most Anti-Stock Transfer Chairpersons has already publicly stated that some sort of twinning process should happen between the relative Tenant Partnerships.

The downside? There always has to be one, and whilst we haven't found one at South Somerset Homes, we were very distressed to read allegations among the Letters pages of the local evening newspaper, that vulnerable Tenants of a recently established Re-Development are allegedly being subjected to an individual service charge for each disability adaptation that they require. If the correspondent is correct, these include items such as smoke alarms and even a toilet!! Which of us would expect to live without either in the 21st century? Less still have to pay upwards of £2 each on top of an automatic Service Charge???

These and many more examples of Swings and Roundabouts will be investigated and updated regularly, if you would like to comment on these? Or have other examples that you think that we should all know about? Please post your comments.

Torfaen Housing Proposed Stock Transfer

Stock Transfer, two words that hundreds of traditional Labour Councillors in Wales have resisted the very mention of for as many years as they possibly dare. The uncomfortable inevitability of a decision to ballot tenants on one Large Scale Voluntary Transfer model or another, has been gently gathering momentum in many a Welsh Council Chamber as the 2012 deadline for the Welsh Assembly Government's Welsh Housing Quality Standards looms ever larger on the horizon.

Nobody would argue that the playing field is anything but level, in fact many Local, Regional and Central Government politicians and officials alike almost openly admit that the odds are deliberately stacked against Local Authorities to such an extent that the decision to ballot is a mere formality, being the only truly viable option. One multiple Jaguared Central Government Minister is rumoured to have acknowledged as much to a Labour Party Conference, and is said to have promised to ensure that the situation will be resolved, and that the so called 'Forth Option' will miraculously materialise and save Local Authority Social Housing from the ravages of Privatisation.

Meanwhile, back in the 'Real World' Local Authority rents are effectively being forced to rise in line with those of Registered Social Landlords (RSL), or Housing Associations if you prefer, and whilst decades of underinvestment continues to blight poorly maintained properties that quietly decay under the noses of Council Tenants, Those whose landlords are responsible, committed and responsive to the needs of Tenants and to the ethos of Social Housing, undeniably benefit from the investment made on their behalf by Landlords permitted to borrow more freely, and to better control their own destiny.

No matter which side of the Stock Transfer fence that you find yourself on, it is vitally important that you never loose sight of the fact that there is no Magic-Wand, and that even the so called 'Forth Option' would only ever be permission to borrow the monies required to attain the Welsh Housing Quality Standards, or Decent Homes Standards dependant upon which side of the bridge you happen to live, and that regardless of which type of Landlord borrows that money, that it will be you, your children and your children's children, generations of Tenants, that will ultimately pay that money back, along with all of the interest charges that accrue over the years.

For tenants in Torfaen, the inevitable has arguably happened, and our esteemed Civic Leaders have bitten the bullet, and taken what they and many others feel was not only the correct, but the only viable option open to them, and thus Torfaen County Borough Council has embarked upon the long and arduous road toward a Tenant Ballot. The decision to consult primarily through the Authority-Wide and Local Neighbourhood Tenant Compact Groups, hoped soon to be much more easily identified as 'Tenant Partnerships', has instantly started the ball rolling for Tenants already involved in these groups and placed the selection of an Independent Tenant Advisor at the top of the list of priorities for Tenants and the Authority alike.

Somebody once said that even the longest journey starts with a single step, and Torfaen has taken the first of what we are sure will be very many, each of which we can only hope will culminate in the best possible outcome for the 8,500 Local Authority Tenants. Neither the Authority-Wide or Local Neighbourhood Compacts will shy their responsibilities to keep tenants aware of any relevant information they have the duty to impart, and we will do everything in our power to ensure that every tenant has every opportunity reasonably possible to have their views, fears and opinions heard, taken into account, and adequately addressed.

What are your views and opinions of the upcoming council house stock transfer proposal? Do you think it is a good or bad idea? We would appreciate your comments on this matter.

For more information on Torfaen's council housing Stock Transfer Proposal please email us on: compacts@hotmail.co.uk

Tenant Participation Torfaen

This blog belongs to the Torfaen Tenant Participation Association.

Their Tenants Participation page can be found on the Online Community Portal Webster.uk.net with their internal page being:http://www.webster.uk.net/tenantsparticipation. The Tenant Participation page outline all issues relevant to social housing residents within the borough of Torfaen including the areas of Pontypool, Cwmbran, and Blaenavon.

On the page you will be able to check latest new headlines relevant to local housing issues, download information about the different individual compact groups as well as a host of information on issues such as recycling, repairs and so on. Portal applications will also allow you to interact with the Tenant Participation Groups via voting and surveys allowing you as a resident to have your say on matters important to you and the housing in Torfaen.

This particular blog will discuss the massive upcoming issue of the Torfaen Housing Stock Transfer. Get involved and have your say here.