This blog is now more widely read than ever

 

  .

 

 

 

Riverside

lowdown

.

in  the 

lock down

This blog is back again after overcoming  difficulties caused  by the pandemic…  hopefully, back again as bouncy as ever.

Sadly, other news is not so good

 Our main enemy, Riverside Housing Association, is  still as inefficient and bossy as ever.Tenants of this giant Liverpool organisation have been increasingly contacting the blog during the lockdown with shocking stories of Riverside in its home area .

 All these stories are similar in every way to the Carlisle stories this blog has reported over the years through the work of the blog publisher, Carlisle Tenants` and Residents`Federation in holding Riverside to account.

 No change there except that these calls to Carlisle from Liverpool  tenants -100 miles away-  are encouraging for the Federation in that they show that the blog is now more widely read than ever.

 No change either in the news this week that the Runcorn-based tenant charity Taroe is to close. It has been limping along virtually powerless for years and has been largely ineffective. It was only a matter of time before its closure.

Taroe Trust was established in 2013. Taroe Limited was established in 1997 through a merger of two national tenant organisations: the National Tenants and Residents Federation (NTRF), whose origins date back to 1988, and the National Tenants Organisation (NTO), which was created in 1976.

 At its peak, Taroe claimed to have a membership of more than three million tenants and residents. 

Commenting on the closure Michael Gelling the trust chairman said:

 “This is a really sad day for me, the charity itself, and most of all for the wider tenant movement.

“For many years we have continued to support tenants to amicably resolve issues with their landlord whilst also engaging with all the major sector consultations.

“The organisation, which was proudly tenant led and tenant owned, acknowledges the many tenants who have been involved with us on  a voluntary basis, the first class staff it has employed who selflessly supported the aims and objectives of placing tenants at the heart of all decision making within the sector, and the few housing professionals who gave of their expertise and time to promote the value of tenants in all decision making processes.

“Following our closure, unfortunately there will be no national level body that will be promoting the interests of tenants directly from the tenants’ perspective, using the knowledge gathered from experience in providing direct, practical one to one support for tenants.

“This is a real shame, and a gap that we hope will one day be addressed.”

In recent years, Taroe Trust has called for government support for a national “Tenant Voice” to be established so that Tenants are properly represented and engaged in developing national housing policy.

 This issue was raised in the social housing Green Paper of 2018, A New Deal for Social Housing.  The White Paper is expected later this year.

 
Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federation publishes this blog. Information about the Federation is available on 01228 5222