benefits of membership brochure 2014

www.sfha.co.uk - Benefits of Membership 1

www.sfha.co.uk

Benefit of SFHA Membership

Housing Scotland TOGETHER

Twitter: @sfha_hqFacebook: SFHA.housingscotlandWebsite: www.sfha.co.uk

Housing associations and co-operatives across Scotland come in all shapes and sizes, and have evolved from many different circumstances. Each is unique, and we recognise and celebrate that diversity, while representing the many common issues – to protect the legacy of associations and co-operatives for the benefit of tenants and service users.

Listening to the feedback we get from housing associations and co-operatives, it has become clear that some people are not always clear about what the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA) does. This is maybe particularly true for those who may not have been SFHA members for a while. This brochure will hopefully show you just how much work the SFHA carries out on your behalf on a range of issues prioritised by members. We outline our priorities for the year ahead; I’m sure you will agree that they are vital in getting to the heart of the matter and ambitious for our sector.

We are very proud of recent progress at the SFHA which has been outlined in recent Annual Reports. But it’s clear that we carry out our work for members with their support and your active engagement with us.

It is encouraging that some former members recently decided to re-affiliate to the SFHA. We look forward to welcoming more over the coming months. It is vital for our sector to speak with a united voice with all interested parties (or bodies) across Scotland. Clearly we are stronger together, with as many members as possible. The more members we have, the more evidence we gather, the more we can do for you, and the better value we can provide to you as members. Scotland’s housing associations and co-operatives are richly diverse, but we share enough in common to be able to speak with one powerful voice.

Thank you for your support, and we look forward to it continuing in 2014-15 and beyond.

With my best wishes.

Scottish Federation of Housing Associations 2

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Health and Social Care

Housing Benefit and Welfare Reform

Energy Efficiency and Asset Management

Governance and Regulation

Rent Affordability and Fuel PovertyWelcome from SFHAChair Teresa McNally

Teresa McNally, SFHA Chair




InvestmentEnergy Efficiency and Asset Management


Rent Affordability and Fuel PovertyOur vision:

Members’ priorities have remained the same for the past few years. They focus on the following six themes:

● Housing Benefit and welfare reform

● Investment

● Energy efficiency and asset management

● Governance (and regulation)

● Health and social care

● Rent affordability and fuel poverty

These priorities are the primary focus for the work of the SFHA policy team in 2014-15. The following pages capture the highlights of our recent work and what we anticipate in the coming year.

We will also continue working on other important areas of policy, including housing management, regeneration and accounting/taxation issues.

The Board and senior staff have been working on longer term strategic planning and are reshaping these priorities in a new strategic plan. We will share this with members shortly.

A wide range of member forums and networks enable us to communicate about the latest policy developments with practitioners who specialise in these various aspects of the work of the sector.

Our website has been revamped and is continually updated with the latest developments on these important themes.

In working on the issues that matter most to you, we will continue to collaborate as much as possible with partners in the sector, with a view to maximising impact and minimising duplication.

A thriving housing association and co-operative sector providing

sustainable and affordable homes

Front cover images:

Top: SFHA Chairs Conference 2013

Bottom left: Partick HA Chief Executive Lynn Wassell and Chair Alistair Firth with Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon at the opening of new development Centurion Way.

Bottom right: Margaret Burgess, Minister for Housing and Welfare, with Mary Taylor, SFHA Chief Executive, at the SFHA Annual Conference 2013

Housing Benefit &Welfare Reform






Rent Affordability and Fuel Poverty

Housing Benefit & welfare reform

Priority for 2014-15:

Port of Leith HA’s Albion Road development



Thanks to you, we collected evidence from members which creates the foundation for presenting solid arguments. Latterly these focused on:

• The additional costs incurred by housing associations and co-operatives as a result of welfare reform. We recently published The Real Cost of Bedroom Tax, which has been well received by members, and picked up by both media and politicians in the campaign for repeal;

• The impacts of Job Seeker Allowance (JSA) sanctions for Housing Benefit recipients, which we submitted to the recent Oakley Review. We will soon publish a report about the impact of JSA sanctions on tenants and landlords in the sector.

We provide robust and comprehensive written and oral evidence on your behalf to relevant Scottish and UK Parliamentary Committees, not least in respect of welfare reform:

• We gave evidence on the petition and Private Member’s Bill in the Scottish Parliament against evictions for the ‘bedroom tax’;

• We provided evidence to the Scottish Affairs Committee’s inquiry into the ‘bedroom tax’. In December 2013, that committee called for the abolition of the ‘bedroom tax’;

• Our recent evidence to the Work & Pensions Committee inquiry into housing costs under the reformed welfare system pressed home concerns about the human impact of the ‘bedroom tax’ and increased costs;

We secured funding to support your work:

• Scottish Government mitigation funding supports a (temporary) post which delivers advice to you on welfare reform mitigation; and publication of practical guidance - Welfare Rights, And Wrongs;

• A funding stream of Scottish Legal Aid Board funding (Making Advice Work), dedicated to helping tenants of social landlords.

We will continue to work on:

• Gathering evidence on the impact of welfare reform to help protect the viability of housing associations and co-operatives and supporting you through forthcoming changes;

• Developing mitigation measures by working closely with politicians and officials in the Scottish Government and other key stakeholders to minimise and ultimately eliminate the impact of the ‘bedroom tax’ in Scotland. Solutions brought forward as a result of the additional funding announced in the Scottish Budget for 2014-15 must be both practical and effective for landlords and tenants;

• Representing the interests of Scottish housing associations and co-operatives and lobbying for the interests of housing associations and co-operatives at Holyrood and Westminster;

• Co-operating with other national organisations in areas of common interest on the establishment of the Local Support Services Framework;

• Promoting the interests of housing associations and co-operatives that wish to be actively involved in supporting tenants in the Local Support Services Framework and provide appropriate advice;

• Securing support to maintain good practice advice on mitigating and preparing for welfare reform, in partnership with the Scottish Government.












Keeping Our Homes Affordable - the SFHA campaign for investment in sustainable social housing

Port of Leith HA’s Magdalene Drive development

SFHA Finance Conference

InvestmentPriority for 2014-15:







SFHA’s David Stewart speaks to delegates during conference registration

Our campaign, Keeping our Homes Affordable, contributed significantly to the successful outcomes from the Short Life Working Group on Investment. Improved grant subsidy levels and terms were negotiated to enable more of you to continue to develop new affordable housing.

We were able to exercise significant influence on these outcomes by gathering evidence, capturing experience and engaging members on the issue of subsidy for housing.

We continue to lobby the Scottish Government on the volume of investment for housing, and engage private funding interests on the obstacles and opportunities around lending to the sector.

We continue to submit evidence and lobby the Scottish Government and the Treasury through the Scotland Office on budget matters in Scotland and UK respectively.

We will:

• Follow up on a commitment by the Scottish Government to review the operation of mid- market rent subsidy, recommend better ways of working and more effective subsidy use;

• Work with colleagues in the Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers and the Scottish Government to draw up effective recommendations to maximise investment and collaboration in new house building and renovations throughout Scotland;

• Press the Scottish Government for better accountability in terms of information about programme spend, tender prices, tenure and unit numbers;

• Continue to ensure approval levels are actively monitored and any issues resolved;

• Work with the Scottish Government to improve access to both traditional and new types of development funding, and also press high street banks for a better working relationship with members and fair treatment on back book and covenant issues;

• Explore more radical funding options such as a social housing investment vehicle for Scotland and more innovative use of loan and equity consequentials by the Scottish Government;

• Promote self-build and homesteading options for people to fund and build their own homes in rural and urban areas;

• Ensure that new arrangements for administration of adaptations and investment funding are workable and properly funded, following on from the recent working party recommendations;

• Position housing centre stage in infrastructure and investment decisions throughout Scotland, and explore as many ways as possible to attract European and national investment to assist housing.








Energy efficiency & asset management


Senior staff from housing co-operatives in the Czech Republic visit Maryhill

Senior staff from housing co-operatives in the Czech Republic attend a seminar at West

Whitlawburn Housing Association






Rent Affordability and Fuel Poverty Our lobbying work on energy efficiency and fuel poverty has led directly to funding for members’ projects through the Scottish Government’s extension of both the Warm Homes Fund and the National Retrofit Programme.

We achieved similar success via the UK Government in relation to the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme, which reversed an earlier decision not to include housing associations - as a result housing associations are now eligible for support at the full rate of funding.

The Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing (EESSH) has been simplified and made more practical and affordable for members to achieve. The SFHA has been able to exert considerable influence on this via the Scottish Government’s working group, with the help of your evidence.

The SFHA is a founder member of the Existing Homes Alliance (EXHA), a cross sector grouping of bodies pushing for investment in the energy efficiency of existing housing. We work through EXHA to lobby effectively for investment in energy efficiency to cut fuel poverty and meet carbon emissions targets.

Our Carbon Portal project was completed during 2013. In total, more than 60 members took part in the project, through which thermal images were taken of over 60,000 properties, with a legacy of an invaluable database of sector stock. The National Housing Federation and Community Housing Cymru are now looking to replicate the project.

We will:

• Publish a guide to renewables for housing associations and co-operatives;

• Create a mapping tool that allows users to find, and learn from, over 500 social housing renewable energy projects;

• Continue to lobby for removal of housing associations from the definition of public contracting authorities used in European and Scottish Public Procurement, while actively promoting good procurement practices, value for money and most effective use of tenants’ rents in service delivery and new projects;

• Respond to the forthcoming ECO consultation using our survey of members to limit the impact of changes upon energy efficiency refurbishments in social housing;

• Continue to work with the Scottish Government and Scotland Europa to ensure that funding is in place, through Scottish Government schemes and European Structural funds, to support energy efficiency, renewables and district heating;

• Work with the Scottish Government, through our membership of the Expert Commission on District Heating, to ensure that affordable loans are available to support members’ schemes through the District Heating Loans Fund;

• Lobby the Scottish Government to continue to support the Warm Homes Fund, a major source of funding to support renewables schemes. (The SFHA is a member of the Warm Homes Funding Panel and members have received the lion’s share of funding to date);

• Work with our colleagues in the other UK Housing Federations and CEOCODHAS (the European social landlords’ body) to ensure that energy efficiency and renewables continue to be high priorities and eligible for EU funding support;

• Work with the Scottish Housing Regulator to develop proposals to monitor the EESSH that are proportionate and reasonable, with members playing a key role in developing and testing the way that progress to compliance will be monitored;

• Continue to Support the ‘Energy Bill Revolution’, - a campaign to ensure that carbon taxes are reinvested in improving the energy efficiency of existing homes;

• Introduce a fund to encourage the addition of monitoring and behavioural measures in sustainable energy projects;

• Work with members and research bodies to develop new energy efficiency and renewable energy projects that give Scottish housing associations further opportunities to remain at the forefront of sustainable energy.







Governance & regulation Priority for 2014-15:

SFHA policy briefing

GBM Annual Conference


We published our Are we ready for the Charter? guide and checklist, to assist members in preparing for new data collection responsibilities, including the new Annual Return on the Charter (ARC).

Our model rules service remains a free benefit for those members reviewing and submitting changes to their rules. This year we reviewed and updated our model rules and the accompanying guidance.

We are continuing to work with a reference group of members and our partners in other organisations in developing our new Governance Handbook, with a suite of codes of conduct for governing body members

We recognise that regulation matters. Our role is to support housing associations and co-operatives in exercising strong governance that safeguards the performance and viability of their organisations, especially in the current financial climate.

We liaise regularly with the Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR), at Board level and between chief executives. We work with the SHR in order to safeguard the performance and reputation of the sector, and to ensure that regulation is credible and proportionate. This applies to collecting and analysing intelligence about the sector, in creating and communicating guidance or in dealing with problems in particular organisations. Strengthening communication with the SHR enables us to represent the views of our members effectively.

We will:

• Publish codes of conduct for governing body members and staff that our members endorse, and that fully comply with the SHR’s regulatory framework;

• Develop a Model Entitlements, Payments and Benefits policy in conjunction with our members that we will discuss with the SHR prior to publication;

• Publish guidance on Governing Body Member Appraisal – an annual requirement of the SHR’s regulatory framework;

• Publish further pieces of guidance as part of our Governance Handbook, as prioritised by members;

• Publish further guidance on Charter reporting and tenant involvement in the process;

• Seek to influence the formats for the Charter Report to Tenants and the Annual Return on the Charter (ARC) submission;

• Develop further services for members as part of our forthcoming Governance Panel. This will consist of a panel of consultants and practitioners for members to call on for advice or reviews.

• Continue to engage with members to learn more about their experience of regulation and governance and to facilitate sharing of good practice;










Governance and Regula


Health and social carePriority for 2014-15:

2013 SFHA Annual General Meeting

Trust HA’s Corson Court development

Councillor Emma Gillan; Stuart Dow, Director of Asset Management; Gerry O’Sullivan, Chair of Bield; Brian Logan, Chief Executive and Bailie Josephine Docherty open Bield’s

independent living development on Glenspean Street


We run a Housing Support Network of members committed to providing housing support for vulnerable adults including older people and people with disabilities. This allows practitioners and managers in general and specialist associations to receive updates, exchange ideas and experiences, and join forces in favour of workable solutions to common problems.

We collaborate with other third sector bodies on issues around procurement, commissioning, inspections, regulations and specialist aspects of welfare reform.

We helped to establish the Housing Co-ordinating Group with Joint Improvement Team (JIT), Association of Local Authority Chief Housing Officers (ALACHO), Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH), Housing Enabling Support Unit (HESU), Glasgow and West of Scotland Forum (GWSF) and Care and Repair Scotland. We are active members and liaise closely with the Scottish Government and elected members in the Scottish Parliament to ensure that the housing voice is heard in the debate about improving healthcare and on promoting prevention.

While new Government legislation requires the structural integration of health and social care agencies, we remain focussed on ensuring that future practice is integrated and housing associations play an active part in future planning and service delivery based on sustainable resources.

We will:

• Maintain and develop the Housing Support Network;

• Engage with the Scottish Government and others in the production of secondary legislation and guidance to promote the contribution of housing associations and co-operatives to better health and social care;

• Work to ensure that associations and co-operatives understand the new structures and are supported to become connected to the new health and social care partnerships;

• Continue to promote the voice and contribution of housing associations on housing support;

• Sustain our commitment to maximising opportunities to keep people living independently at home or in homely settings.




Governance and Regula


Factoring network meeting


We contributed financial support to enable our rural voice, the Rural and Islands Housing Association Forum (RIHAF) to commission the report, ‘Minimum Income Standard for Remote Rural Scotland’. We helped to promote the findings of their study more widely and will continue to do so.

We have commissioned the second phase of the review of our rent affordability measure. This is building on the earlier study which examined possible approaches to affordability and the scope to use a minimum income standard approach.

We have continued to participate in the Scottish Fuel Poverty Forum, seeking to emphasise the critical role of adequate funding sources for social housing retrofit.






Rent affordability and fuel poverty


We will:

• Consult with members on a proposed revised approach to measuring rent affordability;

• Work with the Scottish Government and Scotland Europa in a bid to gain EU funding to address energy efficiency and fuel poverty in rural housing;

• Respond to the forthcoming consultation on the Energy Company Obligation (ECO), seeking to ensure that the revisions ensure that the scheme is revised in order to provide more funding in rural and off-gas areas to reduce fuel poverty;

• Continue our work with the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) to ensure that the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) benefits housing associations and co-operatives in rural, off-gas areas, through our membership of the RHI Social Landlords’ Steering Group;

• Press the Scottish Government through our role on the Fuel Poverty Forum to ensure that the Home Energy Efficiency Programme for Scotland is developed to better support rural areas.






Mary Taylor, Chief [email protected]

Maureen Watson, Head of [email protected]

Andy Young, Policy & Membership [email protected]

Bruce ForbesAngus Housing [email protected]

Teresa McNally (Chair)Ochil View Housing [email protected]

Craig StirratFife Housing [email protected]

Isabell McLaughlanAlbyn Housing Society (VCM)[email protected]

Nile IstephanEildon Housing [email protected]

Jennifer LawlessPentland Housing [email protected]

George FraserGlasgow West Housing Association [email protected]

Kimberley BarkerGlen Oaks Housing Association (VCM)[email protected]

Robert TamburriniNG [email protected]

Steve DelaneyGrampian Housing Association (VCM)[email protected]

Gordon MasonForth Housing Association (VCM)[email protected]

Alan GrantLangstane Housing [email protected]

Susan Torrance, Policy [email protected]

David Ogilvie, Policy [email protected]

Alan Stokes, Policy [email protected]

David Stewart, Policy [email protected]

City of Glasgow Other Cities Other Urban Areas Rural and Islands


Our work falls into four kinds of activities across each of these priorities:

Representing the interests of you and your communities

Influencing government and decision-makers

Promoting your work and campaigning on your behalf

Supporting you and your communities

Representing the interests of you and your communities:The SFHA has been instrumental in raising the political profile of housing. We have the ear of all of the main political parties and meet regularly with prominent members of the governments of Scotland and UK to put your case forward. We work through our representative body at the European level on relevant matters.

As your national representative body, the Scottish Government considers the SFHA to be the ‘go to’ organisation in respect of housing associations and co-operatives. Whenever government policy or legislative proposals are put forward that affect our sector, we lobby to challenge and bring about change on your behalf after we have established your position on the proposals. This includes face-to-face meetings with politicians and civil servants, and preparing written briefings. We also lobby on policy and legislation which we wish to see developed to improve the housing system.

We represent you on a number of significant working groups and advisory groups across all of our priority policy areas, and submit and defend written and oral evidence on your behalf to Parliamentary committees.

With your input we also respond to consultations on an extensive range of topics.

SFHA Chief Executive Mary Taylor and Head of Policy Maureen Watson with Ian Brennan from the Scottish

Housing Regulator at the SFHA Finance Conference 2013


Influencing government and decision makers: We hold successful campaign events at each of the main political party conferences in Scotland and speak to hundreds of MSPs, candidates and party members, raising awareness of your work across the country.

Promoting your work and campaigning on your behalf:Positive media coverage of the work of our sector by SFHA doubled between 2012 and 2013. We have good contacts with a wide range of journalists in the Scottish and housing trade media. We are regularly quoted in the media on matters of housing policy and Scottish public policy.

We liaise with communications and policy teams at the UK’s other three housing federations, to ensure we work together as appropriate. We share information about campaigns and communications expertise and meet twice a year. This has been incredibly useful in our joint work opposing the damaging aspects of welfare reform and opposing the onerous administration requirements of the UK Immigration Bill, as well as on important technical developments such as the new Statement of Recommended (Accounting) Practice.

We have also successfully highlighted your proactive work in energy efficiency, attracting interest and visitors from partners in Europe.

The SFHA has a significant social media presence, reaching an ever increasing audience, including MSPs, journalists, policy experts and key opinion formers. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

We engage senior politicians, including the Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, and we meet the Minister for Housing and Welfare Margaret Burgess and senior civil servants at regular intervals during the year.

We also have strong links with key MSPs, MPs and civil servants, as well as party researchers and press offices. We provide a briefing service to MSPs and MPs as appropriate, prior to any debates and committee evidence sessions that impact on your work. Our briefings are regularly quoted in the Chamber and in committee hearings by the parties in Scotland.

The Scottish Government’s decision to end Right to Buy as part of the Housing (Scotland) Bill 2013 was due in no small part to the SFHA’s strong evidence-based arguments for abolition, made consistently over the past few years.

SFHA Chief Executive, Mary Taylor, launches the Keeping Our Homes Affordable campaign at the

SFHA Annual Conference 2013


SFHA breakfast event

Supporting you and your communities:We keep you informed through a number of channels.

Our website has grown and developed, and you can read the latest political and policy briefings and information on our campaigns. Membership of the SFHA also allows you access to the ‘Members Only’ area of the website, where you can find various SFHA publications which are provided free to SFHA members.

As well as our traditional staff forums, we also promote active discussions on our website and run two free national networks on PR and factoring - the latter in conjunction with SHARE and GWSF - running briefing sessions, training and conferences throughout the year to promote and share good practice.

We have also published practical guidance on welfare rights and on taxation issues regarding renewable energy and heating initiatives.

As well as our flagship monthly magazine Housing Scotland, we also bring you the latest SFHA and sector news in our daily e-newsletter Housing Scotland Today.

Our free ‘OnBoard’ service can help you to find governing body members to renew and invigorate your governing bodies.

The SFHA is a Sponsor Member of SURF, the national agency that promotes regeneration in Scotland. SURF promotes our members as

important community anchor organisations. We provide gateway membership of SURF to all our members, however large or small, with access to SURF lectures, briefings and seminars.

We run several events free for members, as well as chargeable events to support exchange, learning and development. Members pay a reduced rate to attend chargeable events run by the Commercial Team. Our Commercial Team makes a net contribution to the work of the SFHA, offsetting the cost of affiliation by approximately 25%. Feedback from our events is generally very good and attendance is strong, thanks to the support of members.

SFHA media training


Stronger together The housing association and co-operative sector in Scotland is extremely diverse. This is what makes us unique. the SFHA recognises and celebrates that diversity, while representing what we have in common.

We firmly believe that, especially in these challenging times, it is vital for our sector to speak with a united voice, and that we are stronger together, with as many members as possible.

We rely on you to contribute to engaging in our work on behalf of the sector.

For further information or to apply for membership, please:Tel: 0141 332 8113 or email: [email protected]

Housing Benefit & Welfare ReformWelfare Reform

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Back cover images:

Top: Port of Leith HA’s Windsor Place mid-market rent development

Bottom left: Minister for Housing and Welfare Margaret Burgess, Eildon Chairman Heather Cuckow and Nile Istephan, Chief Executive of Eildon at the opening of the association’s award winning development at Ednam Road, Stichill near Kelso

Bottom right: SFHA Procurement seminar


Scottish Federation of Housing Associations3rd Floor, Sutherland House

149 St Vincent Street, Glasgow G2 5NW

Tel: 0141 332 8113 Email: [email protected]

www.sfha.co.uk

Twitter: @sfha_hqFacebook: SFHA.housingscotlandWebsite: www.sfha.co.uk

benefits of membership brochure 2014

Documents

members priorities

asset managementgovernance

scotlands housing associations

regulationrent affordability

social carehousing benefit

benefit of tenants

legacy of associations

social care rent affordability