Quarterly Report
September 1999
Membership
Membership of the CCH continues to grow, with 180 organisations affiliated, 73 of them directly. Regional representation at CCH General Council has grown significantly with competition for seats in some regions.
Tenants taking control - the CCH policy document
After the widest consultation ever undertaken among the UK housing co-op movement, as instructed by the 1998 annual conference, the CCH has published its policy document The booklet is to be launched at the 1999 conference in the company of Lord Graham of Edmonton, Chair of the UK Co-operative Council, and Baroness Dean, Chairman of the Housing Corporation. All at the conference will receive a complimentary copy. Copies are available from the CCH office (free to members, £3.50 to non-members) or can be downloaded here.
Dialogue with the Housing Corporation
The CCH is an active participant in the Housing Corporation's Advisory Panel on resident-controlled housing, which aims to publish a resident control strategy before the New Year. The dialogue, spurred by new research for the Corporation, has led to some positive general conclusions, but the outcome will largely depend on the details and the way in which the strategy is implemented.
UK Co-operative Council and Government contacts
The UKCC connections with the wider co-operative movement continue to bring the housing co-op movement political 'dividends', not least with the All Party Parliamentary Group, and through the dialogue begun by the UKCC paper, Realising the Potential. The CCH drafted a UKCC paper on Neighbourhood Management for the Social Exclusion Unit's project action team on Neighbourhood Management The CCH is also drafting a response to the IPPR's consultation paper on the future of social housing which is intended to go through the UKCC.
CCH Annual Conference l999
The 6th annual CCH conference on 24-26 September, at the International Co-operative College, booked briskly. The conference, launching Tenants taking control, opens a new chapter in the CCH's history.
Regional Promotion
The North East
100 delegates attended the first regional event, in Newcastle in February 1 999, from housing co-ops, local authorities, housing associations and other co-op sectors. It decided to continue dialogue between housing and retail co-op sectors in the region, to renew the North East Co-op Links federation, and to set up a North East Housing Co-op Development Group, funded in part by the conference surplus. This has since met twice and agreed a work programme.
The West Midlands
Graham Farrant, Birmingham City Council's director of housing, and Lord Graham and Jacqui Smith, MP for Redditch, addressed this conference in May in Birmingham. Free to all, it was attended by 75 delegates and opened a dialogue between housing co-ops, local authorities and housing associations as well as the wider co-op movement. The West Midlands Housing Co-op Task Force which came out of the conference has been investigating Community Land Trusts and other methods to develop new housing co-ops.
The North West
Thanks to the joint sponsorship of the North West Co-operative & Mutual Council, many co-op sectors, including retailers and the Co-op Bank, are taking part in planning this conference in November 1999. The first confirmed speaker is Max Steinberg, NW director of the Housing Corporation. MPs and the wider movement will also be represented. The focus will be on regenerating neighbourhoods in a genuinely sustainable way, with housing alongside other factors such as access to credit unions, employment, community facilities and capital.
Scotland and Northern Ireland
The UK-wide conference in February 2000 in Glasgow is still being planned and the full range of ministerial contacts is being approached. The 3-day event is to be hosted by the CCH and the Scottish Community Ownership Housing Forum, assisted by the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations and the Northern Ireland Federation of Housing Associations. The NIFHA has also invited the CCH to address its next annual conference in October 1999.
Other areas
It is the CCH's intention to hold regional conferences in all areas of the country in the next 2 years. If you want to be involved in your region, please contact the CCH for details.
Research
Tenant Control and Social Exclusion research
This research ground to a temporary halt under the weight of expectations placed on it, for example, to evaluate the savings to the taxpayer by housing co-ops reducing ill health. It is in the process of being re-engineered and re-designed to complement research into Tenant Participation being conducted by better resourced institutions, and will highlight best examples of 'what works' in tenant controlled housing across the UK, under the same light. The case studies to be highlighted will be finalized by the end of September and October will see the design of the study completed. Fieldwork will begin well before New Year.
Service Agency research
The CCH is carrying out research into the way that services are provided to housing co-ops. Initial questionnaire data has been received and phase two, detailed interviews with service providers and housing co-ops, and analysis of the raw data, is about to start.
Directory of Policies & Procedures
Work to draw up proposals for policies and procedures is well underway. Policies will start to be published on the CCH website in the near future.
