Housing strategy and finance

This course looks at how councils can improve the effectiveness of their strategic role through partnerships with RSLs and other agencies and how to ensure that these partnerships work well and are sustainable.

The course will look at your responsibilities in terms of communication within your organisation, and to maximize opportunities to develop your role more effectively.

The course will introduce you to how to protect the organisation from fraudulent dealings and individuals from accusations of impropriety.

To provide a framework for writing, implementing and reviewing policies and procedures and involving the relevant people.

To introduce you to the principles and practice of housing association finance and provide a basic understanding of funding in this sector.

The course will provide you with an up to date overview of the structure of the local authority, housing expenditure and the methods of financing it.

This course will enable you to gain knowledge, skills and understanding in relation to involving tenants in higher level decisions, including strategy and policy development, stock transfers, ALMO creations and mergers.

To introduce the range of activities needed to effectively manage the housing stock of a housing association; including guidance on developing an asset management strategy, implementation plans and how they link with other strategies, policies and the business plan.

To look at the progress of your first homeless strategy, compare with other organisations and review your strategy in accordance with the legislation guidance from the DCLG (Department of Communities and Local Government – formerly the ODPM).

The course will provide you with an insight into the strategies available to combat anti-social behaviour and how to implement them.

Learning Outcome:

  • At the end of this course you will be able to:
  • Consider the national regional strategic context
  • Identify the key opportunities of partnerships and who should be included and their respective roles
  • Draw up common key deliverables and outputs as well as strategic objectives
  • Examine how partnerships function (including legal implications)
  • Identify some good practice examples and any transferable techniques and mechanisms
  • To consider the future development of these partnerships
  • Work on the development of strategic plans
  • Examine your role and responsibilities in terms of your organisation’s communication processes
  • Identify the formal and informal channels of communication available to you
  • Select the most appropriate method of communication to achieve your objectives
  • Identify some of the barriers to effective communication and ways to overcome them
  • Make sure you are involved in relevant processes e.g. case assessments and that your voice is heard effectively
  • Examine your role and responsibilities in ensuring tenants’ needs are most effectively met
  • Examine the role of new technology in communication
  • Identify issues relating to confidentiality and communication
  • Appreciate the importance of having clearly defined segregation of duties as an important control mechanism
  • Realise it is important to regularly review procedure manuals
  • Value the importance of independent auditing
  • Draw up a set of Ethical Codes to protect the organisation
  • Promote the merits of adequate guidelines and reporting procedures to ensure that all suppliers (existing and potential) are treated equally and without prejudice
  • Identify the role of policies and procedures
  • Develop a clear process for writing them
  • Write clear and friendly policies
  • Examine the pre-requisites for effective implementation
  • Monitor and review policies and procedures
  • Involve appropriate people in developing policies and procedures
  • Differentiate between capital and revenue funding in housing associations
  • Examine the role of the Housing Corporation
  • Identify the principles of the capital funding regime
  • Describe the role of private finance in funding housing association developments
  • Evaluate the role of local authorities in funding development
  • To understand the jargon used and relate it to everyday financial life
  • The difference between capital and revenue expenditure
  • The sources of finance for capital expenditure (borrowing, capital receipts etc)
  • The sources of finance for revenue expenditure (housing subsidy, rents etc)
  • How housing subsidy is assessed
  • The structure of the Housing Revenue Account (HRA), and the relationship between the HRA and General Fund
  • How rents are fixed
  • How housing benefit expenditure is funded
  • Initiate and sustain tenant and other stakeholder involvement, structures and processes, including ways of encouraging the involvement of all sectors of the community
  • Understand what landlords are required to do by Government and other regulators
  • Examine options for involving tenants in housing management, tenant management organisations, stock transfers and ALMO launches
  • Involve tenants in service reviews, including the benefits of tenant-led inspection
  • Develop quality standards for tenant involvement
  • Understand how to evaluate and review tenant involvement strategies and arrangements
  • Be aware of the role of tenant board members and how this can be developed
  • Consider the barriers to involvement in strategic issues and to consider how these can be overcome
  • Discuss work undertaken nationally reviewing tenant involvement
  • Get an overview of asset management
  • Understand the asset management strategy & the business plan
  • Develop information on the assets

Suitable for:

  • Senior staff from local authorities and RSLs, who are involved in the development and implementation of housing strategies.
  • Scheme managers who want to develop their role in their organisation’s communication processes.
    Staff involved in dealing with suppliers and service providers.
  • Anyone who needs to write and implement clear policies and procedures at a senior level, e.g. allocations, policies etc.
  • Not aimed at staff who work in finance, it is applicable to housing association and local authority staff who need to understand housing association funding.
  • Staff from any housing organisation, who are either new to housing, or who have experience but need to understand the fundamentals of housing finance.
  • The course is suitable for staff from a variety of housing disciplines. No previous experience or understanding of finance is needed – no prior knowledge will be assumed.
  • Managers, officers and any other staff who wish to improve the involvement of tenants in strategic issues.
  • Asset management, development, maintenance, housing management and regeneration officers; and senior managers and board members of housing associations.
  • Anyone with responsibility for formulating their organisation’s homelessness strategy, in accordance with the Homelessness Act 2002.
  • Staff responsible for developing approaches to anti-social behaviour.

Content:

  • Building strategic partnerships
  • Communication strategies
  • Ethics and fraud
  • A guide to developing policies and procedures for housing
  • Introduction to Housing Association finance
  • Introduction to Local Authority finance
  • Involving tenants in strategic issues
  • Asset management
  • Reviewing your homelessness strategy
  • Strategies for dealing with anti-social behaviour