Council tenants and residents from across England in Birmingham for ARCH conference

More than 100 tenants who have chosen to stick with their council as their landlord gathered in Birmingham on 13^th May for their annual conference. Birmingham City Council, the largest stock retained authority in England, hosted the Association of Retained Council Housing (ARCH) tenants’ and residents’ conference 2010.

ARCH was set up to fight for a better deal for tenants who have chosen for their council to be their landlord. Some 110 member authorities’ tenants and residents got together at the Banqueting Suite at Birmingham Council House. The Lord Mayor of Birmingham, Cllr Michael Wilkes, officially opened the event.

Marlene Price, chair of ARCH tenants’ sub-group and resident representative on the ARCH executive board, said: ‘As ARCH grows, our voice as tenants and residents grows. ARCH now has 54 member authorities responsible for half a million properties. This event shows the strength of feeling among people who live in local authority homes that stock retention is the best option. It is the only option based on genuine democratic accountability.’

Cllr Milan Radulovic, ARCH’S national chair and housing portfolio holder at Broxtowe BC, said: ‘ARCH made sure tenants’ and residents’ views were taken into account as it developed its official submissions to the review of the housing finance system. We hope that the new Parliament will listen to one million tenants who have chosen for their local authority to be their landlord and give us the fairer funding system we have been campaigning for.’

ARCH’s secretary, John Bibby, director of housing and community services at Lincoln City Council, said: ‘We have the tantalising prospect of reform of housing finance. We will continue to argue the case for a more sustainable future for council housing.’

Birmingham City Council’s cabinet member for housing, Cllr John Lines, commented: ‘We all have something in common – retained council housing….Tenants in Birmingham made it very clear on a number of occasions that they wanted to remain with the council as their landlord. I gave a commitment to improve their homes to the decent homes standard and I am proud that we have been able to exceed the government’s target.

‘We joined ARCH to work alongside other retained stock authorities to lobby the government for a change in the biased and unfair subsidy system and to pursue other matters of which we share a common interest. With this in mind, I am pleased to welcome you to this conference to further our cause.’

The ARCH annual tenants’ and residents’ conference 2010 took place at the Banqueting Suite, Birmingham Council House, Victoria Square, Birmingham, B1 1BB from 10am until 3.30pm. Delegates heard from the Tenant Services Authority, Chartered Institute of Housing and took part in workshop sessions on topics including; housing finance, building new council housing, rent arrears and the ‘holistic benefits of council housing’.