REPORT FROM ARCH TENANTS' AND RESIDENTS' CONFERENCE
PRIDE PARK STADIUM, DERBY 19TH MARCH 2008

DEMANDING A BETTER DEAL

Around 120 delegates met up on 19th March to share their views on the future of council housing at the second annual tenants' and residents' conference organised by the Association of Retained Council Housing (ARCH).

Council residents from around the country called for a better funding system to enable local authorities to help meet the national housing affordability crisis, when they came together with housing professionals at Pride Park Stadium in Derby. They also welcomed the role of ARCH in providing a collective voice to lobby for a fairer funding system.

Janette Bobey, a tenant representative from Milton Keynes, commented: "We all know we are not being given the same rights as other housing organisations. This is unfair and unjust, so a voice is required to stand up for the rights of council tenants. ARCH is that voice. We as tenants should make sure that we remind all retained local authorities that it is their council's responsibility to join ARCH as this is what their tenants have voted for."

ARCH's executive resident representative, Marlene Price from Wandsworth said: "We need the same opportunities as tenants who have voted for other housing options."

Patrician Rowe, a tenant representative from Taunton Deane in Somerset, also commented: "The private housing market is slowing down and housing associations cannot fill all the gaps in providing affordable homes. But for too long, the contribution of councils whose tenants have voted for them to retain their stock has not been recognised and they have not had a level playing field in terms of funding. I am really pleased ARCH has been formed Äì it brings tenants, residents and officers together to fight for a better deal."

THE FUTURE FOR COUNCIL HOUSING?

Delegates at the ARCH tenants' and residents' conference were anxious to discuss the future of council housing.

The key question was: "How long has council housing got left?" 

Opinion was divided.

ARCH's secretary, John Bibby, director of housing and community services at Lincoln City Council, was optimistic that a more equitable and sustainable future for council housing may be possible now the Government has launched a review of the Housing Revenue Account (HRA), which is widely acknowledge as unclear and ineffective. He said: "ARCH will be feeding the collective voice of tenants into that review to argue for a better finance system."

Bibby pointed out that documents issued by the Department for Communities and Local Government for the launch of the review at the House of Commons on 10th March acknowledged, for the first time in many years, that Äòlocal authorities will provide and manage housing'.

He said: "There is dawning recognition that local authority housing works. This review is what tenants and professionals have been arguing for. We don't know what the outcome of the review will be. So we need to make sure we have a collective voice to argue for a better housing finance system. ARCH will be providing a forum to get tenants and residents as well as officers and members involved to feed everyone's views into the review. We need to demonstrate that we can provide and manage good quality affordable housing."

"Don't be too pessimistic," Brian Reilly, ARCH executive member and deputy director of housing at Wandsworth London Borough Council urged residents. He said: "We have a place at the table and will make our voice heard."

Council housing may have, "no more than ten years," according to the Local Government Association's housing policy expert, Ruth Lucas. She is co-ordinating a group of organisations, including ARCH, who is currently examining the housing subsidy system in depth. "The system is a mess," said Lucas, "but ARCH is working with the LGA to ask for what is necessary so we have a fairer, clearer system."

Phil Morgan, chief executive of the Tenants' Participation Advisory Service, said council housing's future may be limited. "Retained council housing has until the end of the HRA review," according Morgan. He said retained stock authorities need to work "very, very hard indeed", to make the case for a sustainable future during the review, which is expected to conclude by April 2009.

ARCH has commissioned the Tenants' Participation Advisory Service to develop the best possible residents' governance model to capture residents' views to inform its response to the HRA review and other consultations.

ARCH's national chair, Cllr Milan Radulovic MBE of Broxtowe BC, the authority that organised the event, concluded: "One million tenants want to remain with the council. We want a national debate on the future of housing and that looks at all options - and that includes council housing. ARCH is about making sure we are heard. We are not asking for favours. We are asking for what is right and what works for all those people who want to remain with stock retained authorities."

Photos: Deborah Selwood