HOUSING ASSOCIATiON BOSSES "WEALTHY ON THE BACKS OF THE POOR"

Sadiq Khan

and a new

elite of

fat cats

The election of Sadiq Khan as Mayor of London is a massive blow to David Cameron`s obsessive drive against social housing.

And it is likely to be a massive blow also to the main providers of social housing, the country`s housing associations whose bosses this week  were accused of being fat cats enriching themselves at public expense on the backs of the poor.

For David Cameron, Khan`s election and his strong support of social housing signals that yet another government U turn seems inevitable... the tenth since the general election a year ago.

Rocketing pay...David Cowans

Social housing has been central to Khan`s campaign. His election seems certain to influence  the government`s  controversial housing  bill which seeks to end social housing.

For housing associations still reeling from last year`s attacks by the government, Khan`s election coincides with  yet another attack, this time in the Sun newspaper.

The Sun says that a new report reveals the chief executives of the 20 biggest associations took home an average pay of £264,000 in 2014-2015 – up 5 per cent on the year.

David Cowans - head of the Bristol based Places for People association – saw his total pay rocket 12 per cent to an eye-watering £483,000 – three times the  prime minister`s  salary(£142,000). 

The Sun is the second national newspaper in just over a month to attack these grossly excessive pay packets.

The Times recently devoted much of its front page to exposing the scandal.

That newspaper found that some of the highest paid bosses- the  housing association fat cats- ran the worst performing associations.

Nearer home, Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federation has attacked the fat cat pay scandal for many years. Its  attacks have been directed mainly against  one in particular of those leading housing associations, the Liverpool based Riverside. It owns 50,000  homes nationwide and with 6,000 homes in Carlisle is the city`s biggest landlord.

 Up to fairly recently, the Chief  Executive was paid £230,000 year which is about 50 per cent more than the Prime Minister. But massive public criticism- including attacks from Community Voice Carlisle- has  forced a cut-back.

The present chief executive, Ms Carol Matthews  makes do with £183,781.

The stratospheric pay policy comes despite an ongoing row about crippling rents for some of the poorest paid families in Britain – and complaints about the slow pace of construction.

The Sun report – by UKIP’s Douglas Carswell MP and former UKIP deputy chairman Suzanne Evans – branded housing associations a ‘cartel’ with a stunning lack of accountability.

The associations manage 60 per cent of ‘socially rented’ sector and have been handed £23 billion of Government funding in the past 14 years.

Ms Evans demanded a Government investigation into the taxpayer funding of the sector. She told the Sun: “These housing chief executives have become the new elite, enriching themselves at the public expense off the backs of the poor.

“Most housing association tenants will be horrified to know that while they’re struggling to pay the bills, their landlords are on average paying bosses 51 times what they hand over.

Jonathan Isaby, Chief Executive of the Tax Payers' Alliance, said: "Taxpayers will be furious. Far too often eye-watering pay packages for public sector bosses seem to have very little to do with their performance.

"Families waiting for homes will want to know what these chief executives have done to deserve these pay rises.

“Hard-pressed taxpayers struggling with tax rises deserve better”.  

Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federation publishes this blog. Information about the Federation is available on 01228 522277 or 01228 532803.

BRICK BY BRICK DEMOLITION OF HOUSING BILL

Dream 

on Mr

Cameron,

dream on...

David Cameron`s housing policy  today faces its biggest test with his  flagship Housing and Planning Bill now under  threat

The bill will force councils to sell much of their social housing and curb lifelong council tenancies. It has been  described by housing experts as the beginning of the end of social housing.

But the bill has been savaged  in the House of Lords. Critics have inflicted a string of defeats on ministers and forced many concessions. It has been a brick by brick housing demolition.

With local elections and the London mayoral election on Thursday, ministers today face the dilemma of whether to back down and accept many of the Lords’ amendments to the bill or face  deadlock in getting the bill safely through parliament.

Whatever happens, David Cameron’s pledge to build a property-owning democracy has now been called into serious question.

And  a landmark survey in yesterday`s Observer newspaper reveals that almost four in 10 of those who do not own a home believe they will never be able to do so.

Sixty nine per cent of people think the country is “in the throes of a housing crisis”. A staggering 71% of aspiring property owners doubt their ability to buy a home without financial help from family members.

More than two-thirds (67%) would like to buy their own home “one day”, while 37% believe buying will remain out of their reach for good. A further 26% think it will take them up to five years.

The findings cast doubt on the Prime Minister’s claim before last year’s general election that his government`s housing policies would transform “generation rent” into “generation buy”.

In April last year Cameron told councils: “The dream of a property-owning democracy is alive and well and we will help you fulfil it.”

So, what now? Here in Carlisle, the progress of the bill is being watched closely by  those community activists  keeping an eye on the area`s biggest landlord, the Liverpool based Riverside Housing Association

Riverside is struggling to cope with a £100 million drop in income in the next four years.

And it is also struggling to cope with continuous public criticism of  the shambolic way it runs its operations.

Carlisle city councillors are among the critics but how msuch longer they can do this is now in doubt because of an amendment in the  bill gives housing associations the power to remove governing board members appointed by a council. Carlisle  council has four representatives on the Riverside board

The National Housing Federation  has welcomed the amendment as a further move to free associations from state control.

But many councils argue that if they lose a place at the table of their local housing association, this hampers their ability to hold organisations to account on behalf of residents.

 Lambeth Council  thinks the amendment “breaks the housing association’s fundamental relationship with tenants”.

Warrington Council says it is a “backward step” that will eliminate council involvement in “an area of strategic importance”.

Riverside said it is reviewing its local governance arrangements and will make a final decision in the next few weeks.

A Riverside spokesperson added: “Whatever our decision, we consider a good working relationship with our local councils is important. Much of our work is done in partnership with local authorities and it is our desire to work closely with officers and councillors in a variety of ways.”

Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federation which publishes this blog makes this  comment:”These Riverside aims  would be very admirable if that organisation was a fit and proper housing association which was both capable and caring. Riverside is  very far from that”.
 
Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federation publishes this blog. Information about the Federation is available on 01228 522277 or 01228 532803.

HOUSING ASSOCIATIONS AND THE "DANGER" OF WORRIED COUNCILS

Sweetness and  Light...           
and Cameron`s attack dogs

David Cameron`s attack dogs have  been called off. Everything is now Sweetness and Light. Housing associations can relax  while they  face up to the big  loss of income the attack dogs have caused.

And of course, housing associations also face up to the big cuts in operating costs they  have been forced to make.

                             

Last year`s  cuts  to  tenants` rents  caused by the attack dogs 

cost one association, Riverside, £100 million  which in turn led to lost jobs and  lost community services.

And incidentally,  it has also led to lost sleep at nights for the Riverside chief executive, Ms Carol Matthews, worried about the £100 million.

Other senior housing associations officials warn of a crisis  to come for all 1,700 associations  after the attack dogs, if they cannot get back to their core purpose of providing social housing.

So, a big welcome to Sweetness and Light.

Not such a big welcome however  to a government U-turn this week that  will increase the protection for housing associations 

Not extra protection from Mr Cameron`s attack dogs. Oh no! This is extra protection from the "danger" of worried councils who might, heaven forbid, want to keep a check on what housing associations are up to and what they do with the millions of pounds of taxpayers` cash they get.

Keeping a check  for example in the Carlisle area on botched Riverside  heating arrangements in many of its properties  and on dodgy administration, both of which have made life  very hard for dozens of tenants and leaseholders. Just like Riverside boss Ms Matthews, many of these people also are having sleepless nights. 

The U-turn comes in an amendment  to the Housing and Planning Bill now before parliament. The amendment would give the government the power to create regulations  which would limit or remove the ability of councils to exert influence over housing associations.

Councils for example would no longer would have the right to have  representatives on the governing boards  of  the associations.

Carlisle City Council  has exerted that right for 14 years. Ever since  the city handed its council houses to Riverside in 2002 the council has had four representatives on the Riverside governing   board.

How effective these four representatives have been in keeping a check on Riverside is debatable. For 14 years  that organisation has   been unhindered in its  policy of bossyness to  tenants and leaseholders and  its policy of asset stripping on the city estates.

What is not debateable is the new city council policy  of  bringing pressure on Riverside issue by issue.The policy was  initiated by the Leader Coun Colin Glover and has  resulted   in improvements at Riverside for the first time in those 14 year.

Now that policy is in danger from the Housing and Planning Bill.

Fortunately, the bill  with its damaging amendment is still on hold: it has yet to become law.

What then about  Mr Cameron`s Sweetness and Light?

Is that still on hold?

And the attack dogs?

Are they stlll being held?Tightly held?


 
Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federation publishes this blog. Information about the Federation is available on 01228 522277 or 01228 532803.

STRAINS SHOWING ON HOUSING ASSOCIATIONS

Get real Riverside,

and  abandon

your bossy

ways

There are more perils ahead  as Riverside Housing Association struggles  in Carlisle and in Maidstone, 300 miles away. Riverside has been warned to end its bossy and inefficient ways.

In  Carlisle the county town of Cumbria, there are  now new job cuts... an additional 11,  this time from the maintenance team after the  22 job losses through the  closure of Riverside`s Careline  telephone support network for the elderly and vulnerable.And the number of staff working in  Riverside`s Carlisle head office has been cut  by 18 through re-deployment.

Maidstone town centre

In Maidstone the county town of Kent, the  angry tenants who have formed the Tenants Against Riverside organisation are stepping up  their campaign via the web site they themselves have created.

News of the job cuts has led to speculation that   Riveside may soon close its  Carlisle office and run its 6,000 Carlisle  houses and flats from the Liverpool head office 100 miles away. It did the same thing  last year when administration of the 300 leaseholder properties was moved from Carlisle to Liverpool.

Politically, these Riverside problems are being highlighted  in the run-up to the May local elections where several  Carlisle Labour candidates support  a growing  movement to return  the Riverside houses to ownership by  the city council.

Meanwhile, storm clouds are gathering for Riverside and the 1,700 other housing associations as two influential  figures in the world of social housing  warn of perils ahead if bossy  and  inefficient  associations like Riverside do not  move into the 21st century and change their ways.

Riverside has yet to learn that it is not the lord-high-and-mighty and its tenants are not serfs.

Mathew Gardiner. Chief Executive  of the Manchester based Trafford Housing Trust writes in the social housing trade paper Inside Housing about the need for much greater accountability.

Move fast...Mathew Gardiner

He writes:“In an age of greater freedom from regulation and greater transparency through technology, the strains (on housing associations) are now really starting to show.   

"We need to move fast; our reputation is inherently linked to the accountability we demonstrate for the value, and sometimes the lack of it, we create for all our stakeholders.”

New danger...Andrew Cowan

And solicitor Andrew Cowan of the old-established City of London law firm Devonshires writes  in Social Housing, another trade

paper, that there is a new danger  to housing associations from the Charity Commission. 

He says that the commission is using new powers following the scandal of  the aggressive tactics used to raise money by Age UK.

 He writes:

“As the need for public subsidy grows, housing associations are set to become significant housebuilders...But as these operations ramp up, so do new sources of potential complainants – including housebuilders themselves who may see competition against entities who do not pay tax as unfair...

“Charging higher rents to working households within a charity, could lead to allegations of profiteering....

Housing associations will need to ensure that their market and quasi-market rent businesses are clearly distinguished from their core rented activities... 

“And if housing associations want to keep their charitable status, they must continue to demonstrate that they are involved in charitable activities.”

 
Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federation publishes this blog. Information about the Federation is available on 01228 522277 or 01228 532803.