Liverpool Law

Gill Payne, Director of Policy
and External Affairs at the
National Housing Federation
(NHF), spoke candidly about
the challenges faced by the
housing sector and how
changing perceptions of
housing associations is key to
the future of the sector.
Sharing her thoughts with over
200 delegates who had
gathered at the annual North
West Housing Conference, Gill
explained there are differing
views of the sector across
Government; at a local level
relationships are usually very
good but at a national level
the social housing sector
needs to build relationships
with ministers at the centre of
Government. She urged the
sector to concentrate its
efforts on changing
perceptions and promote the
role of housing associations in
society and the positive work
they do.
Gill advised the sector to look
for ways to promote its proud
history, adaptability and
resilience, its strong local
relationships, its ability to
deliver over the long term, its
core charitable purpose to
house people in need and
how it supports aspiration. In
addition, she said there are
real opportunities for housing
associations within the areas
of localism, devolution and
the development of the
Northern Powerhouse.
Gill also touched on the
impending changes to the
housing landscape following
the recent publication of the
Housing and Planning Bill. She
told delegates how the NHF
want to rebuild a relationship
with Government based
where possible on delivering a
shared ambition on supply
and opening up ownership
but she warned that there is a
long journey ahead and that
the full picture on Right to Buy
won’t become clear until the
end of 2016.
Speaker Matt Jones, Director
of Customer Operations at
ForViva, focussed on the
need to establish better links
between health and housing
when he addressed the
region’s housing community
at the event. Due to the
increasing need to cater for
an ageing population, he said
social housing providers have
a real opportunity to put
strategies in place which
protect the future of the
social housing environment.
He spoke about housing
associations having access to
the areas of greatest health
inequality and how there
needs to be a shift towards
services in the community
with more emphasis on
prevention and self reliance.
Matt then went on to say that
housing associations have to
be more than landlords and it
makes business sense to see
health improvements which
will result in asset protection,
income protection and
income opportunities. He
suggested collaboration
between health, social care
and housing could see the
housing sector become the
partner of choice for the
health sector in the future.
Attendees also heard a local
perspective on housing from
Deborah McLaughlin, Chief
Executive of Manchester
Place, a unique collaboration
between Manchester City
Council and the Homes and
Communities Agency formed
to accelerate the pace and
quality of housing
development in the city.
Deborah spoke about how
Manchester Place’s role is to
create a pipeline of private
and public sector schemes
and work with developers
and funders to identify new
opportunities to help the city
meet its target of creating
55,000 new homes by 2027.
The initiative will also
collaborate with housing
associations to develop a
programme of affordable
homes/shared ownership. It
will support developers and
house builders to access
public finance, including the
£300m Greater Manchester
Housing Fund which is
available as part of the
Manchester devolution
agreement.
The conference included a
panel session called
"Foundations for the Future",
which featured up and
coming young housing
professionals Ben Osu,
Community Project Officer,
Your Housing Group; Natalie
Pryor, Customer Involvement
Officer (Co-Regulation),
Liverpool Mutual Homes;
Danielle Sheldon,
Neighbourhood Team Leader,
The Regenda Group; Chris
Fray, Business Intelligence and
Customer Insight Manager,
ForViva; and Michael Arndt,
Corporate Project Manager,
The Riverside Group.
Delegates heard the panel’s
ideas for the future of social
housing and their opinions on
whether social media is a way
forward for interaction with
tenants, how housing
associations can provide in an
era of austerity and how they
can make a positive impact
in order to benefit their
customers.
Housing specialists also
presented a programme of
workshops, offering practical
advice on a range of topics
specific to the sector,
including improving the links
between health provision and
housing, catering for an
ageing population and
empowering communities.
The event was chaired by
Derek Long, Director, arc4.
Brabners and Mitchell
Charlesworth hosted the
conference at Liverpool’s BT
Convention Centre with
support from a project group
made up of ForViva, Liverpool
Mutual Homes, Riverside,
Symphony Housing Group, The
Regenda Group and Your
Housing Group – and
additional sponsorship from
Procure Plus and PSL Print
Management.
Alistair Fletcher, Partner at
SOCIAL HOUSING 23
Changing perceptions is key to the
future of the social housing sector
Derek Long – arc4, Deborah McLaughlin – Manchester Place,
Alistair Fletcher – Brabners, Gill Payne – National Housing
Federation, Matt Jones – ForViva, Paul Wainwright – Mitchell
Charlesworth
Brabners, which has one of
the largest housing and
regeneration specialist legal
teams in the North West, said:
“This was a very timely
conference. The Government
has made clear its intentions
for the sector and this
conference provided
delegates with an
opportunity to consider how
they should respond. There
are, as everyone
acknowledges, many
challenges that lie ahead but
there are also opportunities
for those who are willing to
grasp them.”
Social housing specialist and
Partner at Mitchell
Charlesworth, Paul
Wainwright said: “We have
heard speakers talking about
the significant changes that
the sector is currently
experiencing. Despite the
pressures this will inevitably
bring, it was pleasing to hear
the young speaker panel and
their confidence in the
sector’s ability to react to the
changes and continue to be
a major player in the
construction and
management of affordable
housing in the future. It was
good to see the strength and
depth of personnel from the
various housing providers on
the panel.”