Quarterly Report
May 2000
Representation
The CCH held its AGM recently, and it is encouraging to see more new CCH General Council members coming forward. To cater for this growing interest, the CCH is holding a new members seminar on 27th May at Chisel in south-east London.
Policy
The CCH continues to play a leading role in the community empowerment agenda, having been part of the housing co-op delegation that has started a dialogue with Nick Raynsford. Dialogue with the Corporation appears to be somewhat parked at the moment following a very confusing meeting of the Corporation's Resident Control Advisory Group, but we are hopeful that their publication of draft strategy may be more positive.
The CCH hosted a visit to housing co-ops for the Institute for Public Policy Research, and we await with interest publication of their report on the future of social housing.
Key papers that the CCH is currently working on include a response to Green Paper on housing; a response to the Social Exclusion Unit's report, and a submission to the Co-ops Commission.
Promotion
The CCH, in partnership with the Scottish Community Ownership Housing Forum held an international conference on housing co-ops in Glasgow in March 2000. The conference brought together notable speakers from around the world, and provided a strong rallying point for the housing co-op movement.
The CCH continues its regional promotion strategy. Planning has begun on a conference in Bristol, and future regional conferences are planned for the East Midlands, the North-West and London (in Feb 2001).
The CCH's next annual conference will be held at the International Co-op College in Loughborough on 23/25 March 2001.
Research
Service provision to housing co-ops
The CCH's research into how organisations provide services to housing co-ops is progressing well. Detailed interviews have now been held with all but one of the service providers and the research is still on course for completion by Autumn 2000.
Database of policies & procedures
The policy compilation work continues and publication has been delayed due to suggestions that further areas should be covered. It has been agreed that the CCH will charge for access to these policies (although charges will only cover administrative costs for CCH members).
Code of Governance
The Code of Governance has gone through several versions following consultation. It is intended that the current version is close to completion.
Tenant Control & Social Exclusion
The CCH's research into the effects of tenant control on social exclusion has now moved forward into the case study element of the project. It is still planned that the research will be concluded by Feb 2001.
Housing co-ops and home ownership
The CCH is continuing its work to develop co-operative models of home ownership and equity sharing, and work to develop the Community Land Trusts model.
Publicity
The CCH continues to play a key role in getting the message about housing co-ops and tenant control across in various forums. Events attended in the last 3 months include:
- CDS Liverpool client conference
- CDS London conference
- People for Action conference
- Co-op Party fringe meeting South-West Labour Party conference
- NHF Housing Management conference
- Nat Fed of TMOs seminar on stock transfer
- 3 ATIC conferences on Section 16 tenant empowerment grant
The CCH's interactive website continues to be sited at www.bigfoot.com/~c.c.h For those that may have visited it recently, updating the website recently has proved difficult because our webmaster is currently doing her final exams!
