Tag Archives: TMO

View from the front line – 3 years of pain (and why it’s worth it)

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Three years of pain (and why it’s worth it)

Zoë Kennedy, Styles House TMO, styleshouse.org.uk, @styleshouse

After suffering the trauma of council organised major works, we finally decided we’d had enough and we were becoming a TMO. We’d thought about it for years, but it seemed such a big step and a lot of work, so we had always put it off for another day. Finally though, we realised the amount of effort required to get a good service from the council could be put to something positive.

There is no getting around it, becoming a TMO is long. You might think you can do it quick, but you can’t. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing though as there is a lot to learn. You won’t just be running the estate, you’ll be an employer running a small business with things like payments to the HMRC. That’s pretty big and scary and you need to be trained in how to do it. What we found though, was that there wasn’t anything we couldn’t do and as a group we always had someone who had skills in that area.

img_1108It’s important to keep focused on why you are becoming a TMO and what you want to achieve. We had decided that it would be easier to be a TMO than fight with the council to get anything done and luckily the council kept reminding us of this every time a repair was needed. The most useful experience, however, was visiting other TMOs. We met people, just like us, who were successfully running their TMOs.  We realised that it didn’t take any particular skill, just committed people and a good manager.

We also spent time picturing what our TMO would look like. We knew we wanted an onsite manager and a regular cleaner. Once we made the decision it was easy to come up with a structure and budget. We over estimated everything, which I think was the right approach as it meant we were cautious when spending money and managed to make savings which we have invested back in the estate.

It’s also important to write as many policies and procedures as possible wile you are setting up the TMO. Yes it’s boring, but you’ll be thankful later when you are busy running the TMO that you don’t have to write them. I am currently rewriting our disciplinary policy and really wish we had done it properly the first time around.

Finally, don’t worry about conflict in your group. We had a lot of conflict and were (and still are) a very argumentative group. I would rather that we weren’t but it doesn’t cause any major problems and it’s the reality of being democratic, you just won’t all agree.

Tenancy Management – Human Problems

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With respect to the presenter, our session  with the committee members of  a developing tenant management organisation to seek to negotiate the contents of their management agreement with their Council was not the most exciting prospect for a Saturday.  A view obviously shared by some absent members.

However, aided by a presentation referencing real life experiences and a small, fully engaged group of participants: the event was not only informative but stimulating and yes there were even some laughs. I was reminded of one of the reasons I started working in housing in the first place. A roof over your family’s head is one of the most fundamental desires for anybody and, increasingly, a precious commodity. The investment made by society in trying to ensure every family has a home is very special in the UK.

precious-housing

It can be pleasurable to be part of introducing a new tenant to their home – especially as housing applicants in the most need may have come from quite traumatic circumstances. Tenants at our event have lived in their council homes for up to 35 years and remain grateful for them.

Each potential problem that can arise in a tenancy involves a real human problem: repairs, rent arrears and benefit claims, debt, transfers, succession on death of a tenant, troublesome neighbours, their kids and their dogs – this session explored them all.

Watching this committee develop their ideas to make the experience of renting a home in their tenant management organisation something to be proud of and something they would value through behaviour was inspiring.  From the moment a tenant views their home on this estate, the tenant management organisation wants them to feel at home, part of a community.  However,  they will expect every resident to adhere to a good neighbours’ code of conduct and tenants to pay their rent on time. In return they are determined to provide a best value service, protect the rights of quiet enjoyment and ensure that their staff provide compassionate support when needed. They’ll go far.

 

 

Building strength

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2016-07-16 12.42.35I heard on the grapevine of a relatively new TMO where an investigation is underway because of suspected fraud by the Manager and contractors. Whilst this could happen to a Council and to a Housing Association it is much more upsetting where residents have put their trust in a new resident led vision for their estate.

Tenant Management is one of the most underused yet most successful tools. At this time, we are seeing a very low number of projects going through the ‘Right to Manage’ route, which is a real pity given that many of the traditional avenues for resident control are closing down. In a universe where funds for resident involvement are being hit by Local Authority cuts and residents of Housing Associations are looking at their landlords becoming ever bigger via mergers, giving residents more control is looking less likely.

Tenant Management offers the opportunity for residents to set the standards for the services they receive, to spend their rent and service charges in the way they want and to build a truly local vision. To get to the point where your landlord and the Government agrees that you are competent residents have to go through nearly 2 years of planning and development and be subject to external assessment. However, things can still go wrong.

There are a number of key things that residents can do with support from there advisor to minimise the chances of this type of thing happening:

  • Way before going live, agree the exact report arrangements that you expect your TMO manager to adhere to. Set these up and do trial runs with the advisor to check on the data
  • During your recruitment make sure you take up all references, that you set clear probationary targets and you appoint against a JD that is clear about experience required
  • Once a quarter board members should undertake a ‘verification’ exercise to look at the raw information behind the reports. By setting up a scrutiny sub group who can focus on specific areas you pick up on any concerns
  • When agreeing your procurement policy and procedure make sure you put in place checks and balances. Residents should be involved at all stages, agree clear schedules of work with clear prices and have a system in place to agree an variations in cost that involves board sign off
  • Verify: before and after pictures from contractors Joint spot checks with the board and the staff of works completed
  • Once a year do a 100% doorknock to pick up on any issues

As board members of a TMO residents should not be sitting looking over a managers shoulder, this is not good for either party. Instead, put in place procedures and checks and make sure they are carried out!

Resident’s Happy with Regeneration? Really? (Well they can be)

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Maybe I’ve been around the block a few too many times (including refurbing it, knocking it down, rebuilding it and making it green). When I saw reports from the LSE being trailed as ‘RESIDENTS HAPPY’. Anyone who has worked on long term regen projects immediately asks which residents? With some projects taking over 10 years you are very often talking about completely different communities at the start and at the finish. I often work with community groups to help them become a ‘critical friend’ so here goes! The LSE report is very focussed on a particular estate and what they define as a specific model. I am sceptical about some of the interpretation of the findings and real wider application. As someone who has regularly worked with residents on 100% door knocks and making sure that we have met with all households I do question that the study is based on 50 independent surveys. However, I am a massive fan of the LSE and its studies of regeneration and in particular Anne Power and I think there are some clear messages to be taken from this report.

Anne Power is quoted as saying ‘(the scheme) shows that it is possible to rebuild a former council estate with most of the existing tenants in place. By providing local management and community resources, the landlord can help the community flourish’
In just one sentence a few key points have been identified:

  • The landlord has to have as one of its aims of regeneration that the community flourishes. All too often little time or space is given to considering what this means. Who is the community now, what will happen to them and who will the community be when we are finished? Are not questions that are really formally addressed. Too much emphasis is placed on building costs and ASB stats as the drivers. These are just numbers!
  • The need for well thought out community resources. All too often it’s a case of there was a community centre so we will just re-provide a bright new one it will be fab and have a mezzanine! So little thought is given to how it will run and survive, too much reliance on assumption of a ‘community trust’ in Business Plans or PDAs. The community changes over the life of a regeneration project so must the community offer. Please! No more white elephant centres, S106 get outs and small community groups scrabbling for survival. If you have a new estate, where is your new community resource model!
  • One of the recurring things you hear from residents on estates that ‘need regenerating’ is it feels like things are being done to them. If you really want to regenerate an area how about regenerating the power balance. So much time is taken to involve resident’s in the planning and getting ‘sign off’ this needs to be developed into a longer term model of greater community control

So 3 things:

Have a worked vision for the community and demographics in regeneration.

Have your short/medium and longer term community resource model and methods for continually testing its validity.

Build in your plan for greater control, the community may change but you can still build the structures (ever heard of a TMO or EMB?).