£9k funding to further improve housing services in Wolverhampton

Published by Selina Smith for Wolverhampton Homes in Housing

Wolverhampton Homes and four Tenant Management Organisations (TMOs) have secured funding of £9,000 to talk to their tenants about local priorities thanks to a pilot scheme by the TSA (Tenant Services Authority).

Wolverhampton Homes, Bushbury Hill Estate Management Board, New Park Village Tenant Management Organisation, Dovecotes Tenant Management Organisation and Springfield Horseshoe Tenant Management Organisation, all manage properties in the city on behalf of the council.

This successful project will benefit tenants living in 25,661 homes across the city and will see the five organisations asking their tenants to agree local targets reflecting their local priorities and needs.

They will ask tenants about improving services and what is important to them. Topics could include measuring the repairs service, for instance a tenant may prefer a repair to be completed during the first visit rather then it being carried out in a target of three days.

Feedback and comments through local Get Together meetings, focus groups and surveys will then be evaluated to see what are the key priorities which may be the same across the city or different.

The five organisations are one of thirty-seven housing projects across the country selected as a local standards pilot by the TSA.

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.

Wolverhampton Homes is already speaking to its tenants and offering more choice in services including the concierge service at high rise flats across the city. The concierge service offers caretaking, security and information.

Margaret Wright said, “This is fantastic news for us and Wolverhampton tenants. We've always aimed to tailor our services to tenants' needs but this will give us even more focus on what's important to tenants at a local level, what choices would they like to see in the services we provide or how we provide them. The timing couldn't be better as we've been consulting on new tenant involvement arrangements for some time now. We're launching the new local 'Get Togethers with Wolverhampton Homes' which replace the previous forums at the end of this month. Through these and other new arrangements more tenants will have more opportunities to shape the way we operate.“

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 Wolverhampton Homes 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 support the development of agreements between landlords and their tenants to develop 'local deals'.

The pilots are scheduled to start this month and will be funded through to April 2010.