Halton Housing Trust has been selected as one of 20 organisations to develop Local Standards by the Tenant Services Authority (TSA), the national social housing regulator.
The Trust is set to receive £9,000 to support its pilot study on the development of Local Standards for the allocation of homes across Widnes and Runcorn.
The pilot study will be lead by the Trust but will be delivered in partnership with five other Registered Social Landlords that have a significant number of homes in Halton: the Plus Dane Group, Liverpool Housing Trust, Riverside Housing and Cosmopolitan Housing Association.
Halton Housing Trust will consult with its customers and the local community to develop a local ‘Halton’ Standard for its allocations policy.
The Halton project is one of 37 housing projects from across the country which has been selected as a Local Standards Pilot by the TSA, with just three of these covering housing allocations. Grants have been given to boost projects and initiatives in tenant empowerment, repairs and maintenance, anti-social behaviour and neighbourhood and estate management, for example.
Some 185 organisations answered the TSA’s invitation to bid for funding of up to £9,000 to support the development of agreements between landlords and their tenants to develop 'local deals'. Grants totalling £281,000 have been awarded.
Nick Atkin, Chief Executive of Halton Housing Trust, said: “We are delighted to have been selected from such a large number of submissions to develop the Local Standards for allocations. This is a great example of how landlords across Halton are working together with their customers to improve the levels of choice, transparency and the overall quality of the allocations process. With the forthcoming introduction of Choice Based Lettings next year this is a fantastic opportunity for both current and future customers to help us shape the future of home options services in their local area.”
Peter Marsh, TSA Chief Executive, said: “We have had a fantastic response to our invitation and were very impressed with the high standard of all the bids we received.
“All the successful bidders such as Halton Housing Trust have shown real innovation and their plans are fantastic examples of good practice which can be shared across the sector.”
In July the TSA invited providers such as housing associations, local authorities and arm’s length management organisations to make bids of up to £9,000 to develop 'local deals'.
The pilots are scheduled to start this month and will be funded through to April 2010.
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