TSA has taken 'leap of faith' with new social housing service standards » Housing » 24dash.com

The Tenant Services Authority (TSA) has taken a leap of faith with its new service standards for social housing landlords, according to the Board Development Agency (BDA).

The BDA has been on the TSA’s advisory panel and looking at the new code with a particular interest in what it means for governance in the social housing sector.

Hugh Laird, BDA Director, said: "We have studied the proposed standards in depth and assessed their implications for social landlords.

"The proposals are radical. The TSA are taking a leap of faith. No longer will the TSA say this is the way you do it. It will say: 'Show us what you have achieved, how you have met the service standards and we will give you a free hand in how you go about meeting those standards.'
 
“Our experience of talking to organisations is that they have liked the comfort blanket of having to comply with a pre-defined code.  Now they will be forced to review the organisation’s governance to determine which code is right for them.”

Here are the key points BDA have gathered about the TSA’s new regulation:

• Social Landlords can choose their own Governance Code to follow
• Co-Regulation means the TSA will never again tell landlords what to do – but will challenge what they decide to do
• Tenants will need to be involved, probably through tenant’s scrutiny
• Governance is going to have a lighter touch.

The National Housing Federation, meanwhile, welcomed the publication of the new regulatory framework but warned some proposals raised concerns and should be amended.
 
Federation chief executive, David Orr, said: “We welcome the publication of these new draft standards for the sector and will now consult widely with our membership as we prepare a detailed response to the framework.
 
“The Federation has argued consistently for a co-regulatory approach that recognises and supports the independence of associations and the primacy of boards. And to achieve this, the standards should focus on outcomes, not process.
 
“The Federation welcomes statements by the TSA in general support of this approach and regards the consultation document as a constructive contribution by the TSA to the development of the new regulatory framework.
 
“The TSA has clearly addressed a number of key concerns raised by the sector.”
 
Mr Orr, however, said housing associations were concerned about some potential flaws in the draft standards.
 
“The value for money standard is inherently concerned with matters of process and its presence undermines the more positive approach in much of the rest of the proposed framework,” he said.
 
The framework will apply across the social housing sector but will in practice be applied differently to housing associations than to local authorities in some specific areas.
 
The Federation argues that some of the differences between the housing association and local authority sectors are not justified, and create a risk that the different groups of social housing tenants may receive unequal protection by the regulator.

The TSA today launched its official consultation on the proposed standards, which covers six key areas: tenant involvement and empowerment; the home; the tenancy; neighbourhood and community; value for money; and governance and financial viability.
 
Each standard sets out first the high-level outcome that landlords should achieve, then a series of "specific requirements" related to that outcome.

The consultation document - ‘A new regulatory framework for social housing in England’ - also makes a series of proposals on registration, performance monitoring, and the use of enforcement powers.
 
The consultation period runs to February 5 2010.