CCH

Tenants Taking Control

Executive Summary: Housing Co-operatives & Tenant-Controlled Housing

Too much has been imposed from above, when experience shows that success depends on communities themselves having the power and taking the responsibility to make things better.

The Prime Minister, the Right Hon Tony Blair MP

[You can download the Executive Summary as MS Word 97 file (56kb) or the whole document as MS Word 95 file (68kb)]

The Background to 'Tenants Taking Control'

'Tenants Taking Control' has been put together by the Confederation of Co-operative Housing, the nationally representative body for housing co-operatives. It has been consulted on widely within the housing co-operative and tenant-controlled housing movement.

Although some housing workers have contributed, it should be borne in mind that this is a strategy that has been put together by tenants, and is about, what tenants and communities who have adopted self help approaches to housing, see as the current difficulties and barriers, and about what they want to see happening.

We would like to thank the many people and organisations who have contributed to this policy document. During the consultation process, 'Tenants Taking Control' has led to a growing dialogue between us and a range of organisations, and since original publication of the consultation paper in March 1999, there have been several developments related to the ideas and principles contained in this document, including:

the setting up of an advisory group to consider Resident Controlled Housing by the Housing Corporation, in which the CCH has played an important role.
the publication of research by the Office for Public Management, as a part of that process.
the introduction of tenant participation compacts in the local authority sector.
the widening of the Section 16 funding regime and the introduction of Tenants Options Studies.
the inception of the concept of neighbourhood management.

What has gone wrong?

As tenants, we pull no punches in this report. The depth of failure in housing is illustrated by:

one top-down regeneration scheme after another that has failed to turn neighbourhoods around.
both council and housing association developments all over the country where no one wants to live.
massive disrepair in public sector housing.
escalating rents, particularly in the housing association sector.
next to no sense of community in many public sector neighbourhoods.
increasing social polarisation, where those that can leave social housing, do.
the creation of ghettoes of disadvantaged people and sink estates.
large numbers of home-owners, encouraged to buy their homes throughout 1980s, who cannot afford to maintain them.
a growing demand for housing, and insufficient resources to meet this demand.

It is easy to reel off the problems, but much harder to identify the solutions. It is our opinion that the key ingredient to sorting out these problems is to transfer power to local tenants and communities wherever possible.

We recognise that the current government's aim to 'raise the baseline of tenant involvement' across all social housing and we welcome that as a start to the revolution that is needed in housing provision. We would actively support any methods that increase the involvement of tenants, but most tenant involvement falls far short of the benefits to the taxpayer and tenants that housing co-operatives bring. Therefore, we would like to see:

tenant control and housing co-ops being encouraged wherever possible.
the setting up of housing co-operatives or tenant-controlled housing becoming an option available to all tenants.

Our vision

We want to see empowered communities where ordinary people work together in participatory democracies to rebuild their neighbourhoods. To achieve this vision:

We need to build balanced communities:

where all members of society want to and can live together.
which will end social polarisation.

To build such inclusive communities, we need:

mechanisms that ensure that the less disadvantaged do not leave their communities.
allocations systems and developments that house families and single people together.
an alternative to home ownership.

We need to build sustainable communities:

that can survive through several generations without external support.
that have less need for further public sector funding.

We need to recognise the key role that housing plays at the heart of the community:

housing is only one part of building sustainable communities.
however, it is an important building block for community capacity building.

We need bottom-up development, because:

development where decisions are taken by people who dont live in the neighbourhood will fail.
only if the community is empowered to be in control of decision-making will regeneration last.

We need to encourage community ownership, because:

if people feel that their neighbourhood belongs to them, they will look after it.
community ownership of assets will reverse the flight of revenue from disadvantaged neighbourhoods.

We need to encourage community self-responsibility, because:

community self-responsibility will engender individual motivation and self-reliance.

We need affordable housing:

where tenants on low incomes can afford to pay the rent.
so that those who do not receive housing benefit can remain a part of their community.

We need to encourage membership & mutuality, because:

membership of real participatory democracies will create enfrancised, inclusive communities.
membership organisations are about ordinary people working together to help themselves to a better future.

Why housing co-ops?

Most .... co-ops outperformed their Local Authority and Housing Association counterparts and provided more effective housing management services with usually better value for money," Housing Co-ops "delivered wider non-quantifiable social and community benefits.

(Conclusions from the Housing Research report by Price Waterhouse, carried out for the Department of the Environment, entitled "Tenants In Control: an evaluation of an evaluation of tenant-led housing management organisations" 1996)

The housing co-operative model has been delivering sustainable benefits for as long as 20 years, and offers the potential for building balanced communities in the future.

The key arguments for housing co-operatives include:

housing co-ops are sustainable inclusive & balanced community organisations.
housing co-ops are a unique means of building the capacity of communities and individuals.
housing co-ops are about community and individual self-help.
the housing co-op model sits between social housing and home ownership.
government research has confirmed the success of housing co-ops.
there is much anecdotal evidence of the success of housing co-ops, such as:.

...a tenant management co-op who in their first 2 years of management saved £200,000 compared to what the local authority had previously spent, at the same time as clearing the backlog of repairs, creating a viable community, eradicating void properties, vandalism and littering on the estate.

...a Housing Corporation registered ownership co-op who have lower rents than all other local housing providers. Despite these low rents, the co-op is maintaining its properties in good condition, carries out all its repairs within 24 hours, is covering its long term maintenance needs, has low rent arrears and virtually no void properties, all at the same time as building a thriving local community.

...a Housing Corporation registered ownership co-operative which records incresaingly growing demand for its housing in an area where there is low demand fro both local authority and housing association social housing.

Where are we now?

Despite the obvious benefits of housing co-operatives, and theoretical support for them from all political parties, the housing co-op movement plays a very small part in public sector housing.

There are currently:

270 fully mutual housing co-operatives, registered with the Housing Corporation.
over 150 tenant management organisations in local authority properties.
an unknown number of tenant management organisations in housing association properties.
6 resident controlled housing associations.
a number of short-life housing co-operatives, self-build co-ops and other ownership co-ops.

The barriers that have prevented the development of housing co-operatives have included:

lack of support from local government. Housing Co-op members are ordinary people, who may not understand the workings of local government.
misconceptions that, for example, housing co-ops do not have appropriate allocations or equal opportunities policies, that housing co-ops cost jobs, and that housing co-ops are uneconomic. All of these are untrue.
lack of expertise in the development process.
a funding framework that does not support small scale local community organisations.

The CCH and others are working hard to ensure that these barriers are removed, so that the message of housing co-operation can be spread widely. We see a range of opportunites where housing co-ops could be set up, including:

in neighbourhood regeneration programmes.
through leasehold arrangements with Local Authorities and with larger Registered Social Landlords.
through stock transfers, particularly to existing Tenant Management Organisations.
through expansion of existing housing co-ops.
as a result of section 16 options studies.
through promotion of tenant control in Housing Association stock.
through cross tenure options, that bring together local authority and housing association tenants and homeowners.
through establishing leasehold co-operatives.
through community land trusts.
through empowerment programmes stemming from neighbourhood management schemes.

A Co-operative Housing Strategy

How do we make a housing co-operative strategy happen? What are the elements that need to come together to ensure that tenants are in a realistic position to develop their own housing co-ops?

The future of social housing

1 There is a need to rethink the way in which public sector housing is funded and allocated. Most people agree that the current funding framework does not deliver affordable rents. Consideration needs to be given to raising grant rates.

2 'Neighbourhood management' must be about community empowerment as well as 'joined-up' local strategies. All neighbourhood management should promote and support tenant control.

3 The Community Land Trust model should be investigated as a means of developing resident control and housing co-ops.

Developing housing co-operatives

4 The Housing Corporation should be publicly supporting housing co-ops, and encouraging, wherever possible, local authorities and housing associations to develop resident control strategies.

5 Guidelines need to be drawn up about how housing co-ops can be set up in partnership with existing RSLs. These guidelines should clarify Housing Corporation regulations regarding housing co-ops leasing properties from other RSLs.

6 Tenants should be in a position to choose the organisations they work in partnership with, such as the development partners, management service providers and training agencies.

Developing tenant control in local authorities

7 Local authorities should consider the contribution that resident control could make to their housing strategies, and identify what they are doing to promote co-op housing in their Housing Investment Programme bids.

8 Local authorities should consider an RSL's track record on tenant control when choosing preferred partners.

9 Local authorities and regeneration schemes should carry out surveys of empty properties in their area with a view to transferring management of properties to housing co-operatives, particularly those considered hard to let.

10 TMOs urgently need an independent organisation that can mediate between TMOs and local authorities.

11 Local Authorities should be allowed to sell properties occupied by shortlife co-ops to those co-ops at a discounted rate that take into account the amount of time that the co-op has maintained the property.

Developing tenant control in housing associations

12 The Housing Corporation should encourage housing associations to develop housing co-ops and resident control.

13 A criterion for approval of funding bids for RSL development should be plans for promoting tenant control and the RSL's previous tenant control record.

14 There is a need for an education programme for housing association staff about housing co-ops and resident control.

15 Wherever possible, new developments should have pre-allocated tenants who can get involved with design and development processes.

16 An equivalent of Section 16 funding should be made available to all RSL tenants, including tenant options grant and the tenant management grant programme. Such a programme should include the option of setting up tenant owned (leased) organisations.

Service provision to housing co-ops

17 There is a need for best practice guidelines on how organisations provide services to housing co-ops.

18 Consideration should be given to monitoring systems for housing co-ops and organisations providing services to them. The Housing Corporation should work in partnership with other organisations to look at ways to prevent problems.

Resident controlled housing associations

19 All tenant and other representatives on boards of housing associations should be elected and accountable to their tenants.

20 There should be no limits on the percentage of tenants on the boards of Housing Associations.

21 All RSL tenants, particularly in regeneration and stock transfer programmes, should be given the option to set up a tenant controlled housing co-operative.

Taxation

22 Consideration should be given to possible tax incentives for companies investing in social housing, particularly social housing that is resident controlled.

23 Consideration should be given to exempting resident controlled social housing from Corporation Tax, and from stamp duty for transfers of housing.

Developing tenant control through stock transfer

24 No regeneration scheme or stock transfer should take place unless there is an established recognised democratic tenants organisation.

25 Tenants in a proposed stock transfer, should have access to genuinely independent advice and funding.

26 Guidelines should be drawn up about stock transfer, in a similar fashion to the 'Right to Manage' procedure, to ensure that tenants understand the process.

27 Where a local authority stock transfer is proposed which includes a TMO, consideration should be given to granting the TMO separate status, which should mean an alternative voting system and the provision of funding for a separate stock condition survey of the tenant managed housing stock.

28 Setting up a housing co-operative should be an option considered by tenants in all stock transfer proposals.

Developing the tenant movement

29 We propose that the representatives of the various tenant representative organisations meet on a quarterly basis to discuss issues of mutual concern.

Building the resident control constituency

30 There is a need for a major advertising campaign about the importance of volunteering and membership.

31 Benefit regulations should be reviewed to encourage volunteering rather than prevent it.

32 Companies should be encouraged to allow time off work to meet volunteering commitments.

33 Information about volunteering and the co-operative option should be disseminated through schools as part of active citizenship campaigns.

Home ownership

34 Consideration should be given to enabling homeowners who cannot maintain their properties to establish mutual organisations. Housing Co-operatives and the Community Land Trust model may be a means by which this can be done.

35 Consideration should also be given to methods of setting up co-operatives for leasehold home owners.

[Published by the Confederation of Co-operative Housing, The Bond Warehouse, 180-182 Fazeley St, Digbeth, Birmingham B5 5SE. E-mail info@cch.coop. Copies of the full report can be ordered from the CCH office.]