The country faces a difficult Catch-22. We need to cut spending to lower our borrowing but we also need to encourage economic growth to pay off our deficit. Somewhere in the middle of that, the property and construction sectors have been decimated.

The Consortium is currently preparing its response to the Government's consultation on 'Reinvigorating the Right to Buy and one for one replacement'. Our initial analysis indicates that delivering one-for-one replacement will be challenging for housing organisations in the North. Average receipts from Right to Buy sales in the North are lower than elsewhere, and many local authorities and housing associations in the North have already utilised much of their borrowing capacity for affordable rent and other initiatives.

As you will be aware the Welfare Reform Bill is reaching the end of its passage in the House of Lords, it will shortly return to the Commons before being granted Royal Assent. Lord Best secured an amendment to the Bill regarding under occupation in social housing and it is likely the government will seek to overturn this amendment. Discussions are on-going within the political parties on this issue and no doubt some negotiations will be taking place - both on this and other clauses in the Bill.

2012 is going to be a challenging year for us all, and one in which we need to ensure our voice is heard now more than ever. Many of the Government's proposals are likely to have a greater negative impact for the North, whether it is through welfare benefit reform or the changes to right to buy being highly unlikely to enable 1 for 1 replacement.

Alex Cunningham, Labour MP for Stockton North recently visited residents and staff at two schemes providing supported housing solutions for people living with severe physical disabilities in the regeneration area of Hardwick, Stockton-On-Tees. Developed by Endeavour Housing Association with the support of local partners, the schemes at Sycamore Way and Easington Road promote independence and allow cost savings against residential care costs and hospital admissions.

Christmas is nearly here and we await the Government's consultation documents on fraud in social housing, higher rents and higher incomes, and changes to Right to Buy. The documents are due for release shortly and we will be working with you to ensure a Northern Voice is heard on these critical issues.

Yesterday evening (14th December 2011) the Lords debated further amendments to the Welfare Reform Bill regarding under occupation. Lord Best's amendment recommended that the under occupation charge should not apply where a household has no more than 1 spare bedroom. Lord Best's amendment was approved by the Lords, defeating the Government.

Following our successful social investment event we have had a number of enquiries concerning developing, managing and growing different types of social enterprises. Whether this is around developing your own or understanding which social enterprises are out there as potential partners.

The Chancellor's Autumn Statement was delivered to Parliament on 29th November. Whilst much attention has focused on the growth and borrowing forecasts, there were some additional announcements which may also be of interest to Northern Housing Consortium members.

The Government has launched proposals which they claim will unlock growth in Britain's cities. At an IPPR North conference in Leeds last Thursday, the Deputy Prime Minister announced that the UK's eight core cities - which include Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield - will be allowed to put forward proposals for 'city deals'.

With the Government shortlisting those areas in the running for roll out of Community Budgets we are planning a policy paper on the contribution of the housing sector to turn around the lives of complex families.

After a successful tender process, we have just released the first call-off from the Assisted Living framework for Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council and NHS Blackburn

We will be publishing the tender opportunity for Digital Aerial Maintenance within the next few days

We featured our plans to tender a new home adaptations framework in the previous ezine and we have had a fantastic response from members who would like to be involved. But its not too late to register your interest!

Winter is now upon us and the inevitable adverse weather conditions mean that the launch of our grounds maintenance framework is particularly timely for ensuring that your manual gritting and snow clearance needs are addressed in your communities and neighbourhoods.

The Consortium are currently in the process of finalising the documentation for the renewal ofthe framework for Digital Aerial Systems; It is the intention to extend the current offeringto includeoptions for theinstallation of new system requirements, upgrade of existing systemsand ongoingmaintenance requirements of existing and new installation.

City of Bradford Council, Harvest Housing and Together Housing Group were all been named as winners in the Northern Silver Screen Awards 2011. The awards which are an initiative by the Northern Housing Consortium were presented on 22nd November as part of the Northern Housing Summit conference.

A new procurement alliance which will generate social outcomes as well as cost savings for over 1,000 social landlords is being set up by Fusion21, the Northern Housing Consortium and Procurement for Housing.

The NHC has returned to the office following an extremely successful Northern Housing Summit 2011. With a focus on innovation and opportunities for the North, the conference hosted speakers including; David Miles, Member of the Monetary Policy Committee, Ian Mearns, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Housing in the North, and Andrew Stunell, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Communities and Local Government. The conference further raised the profile of Housing in the North and stressed the important role housing plays in supporting and developing local economies by providing a wide range of positive practice examples.

Consortium Procurement is about to embark on a tender process in order to establish a new Framework Agreement for Home Adaptations building on the success of the current Bathroom Adaptations Framework Agreement and is looking for more Members to assist with this process.

On Thursday 24th November, the Housing Minister announced allocations from the Housing Market Renewal 'Rescue Fund'. Government has added a further £5.5million to the original £30million announced in May. As bids needed to be 'match funded', Government says this will take the total investment to £71million, ensuring that every street or block with more than half its properties lying empty will benefit.

On Monday 21st November, the Government launched 'Laying the Foundations : A Housing Strategy for England'. The Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, in their foreword, write that the Strategy has two main aims;

The Homes and Communities Agency have now published bidding guidance for Registered Providers who wish to bid for a share of the £100milllion of HCA funding to bring empty homes back into use. Bidding is open until Monday 23rd Janaury 2012, so there's no time to waste! Full bidding guidance, and bidding templates can be downloaded from the HCA website

On Monday 21st November, the Government launched 'Laying the Foundations : A Housing Strategy for England'. The Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, in their foreword, write that the Strategy has two main aims; to help drive local economies and create jobs; to spread opportunity within our society.

The Welfare Reform Bill represents one of the most significant changes for the housing sector in over thirty years. The introduction of Universal Credit, Direct Payments and changes to benefit payments will have a huge impact on Northern communities.

I recently wrote to all the Chief Executives within our membership to inform them of a new initiative for us,'Smarter Buys'. We have received overwhelming interest in the initiative so far and I would like to further gage the level of interest and to offer you the opportunity to share your views on the idea.

Consortium Procurement have recently awarded frameworks for grounds maintenance and assisted living. Both frameworks have seen huge popularity from within the membership and the Consortium Procurement team have been busy meeting with Members to discuss how the frameworks operate and how they can access the frameworks.

To mark this year's Empty Homes Week (4th-10th December) the Consortium is pleased to be working with Coast and Country Housing to bring NHC members a free round-table event on bringing empty homes back into use.

We are looking for case studies where avoidable contact or failure demand has been measured and used to improve services. We are particularly interested in the approach that was taken to collecting this information in the contact centre, and how this was disseminated across the organisation for service improvement to take place.

As the impact of the cuts deepens, and further threats appear on the horizon, the need for efficiency in operations, procurement and value for money across the board has never been greater. The Northern Housing Consortium has realigned its focus to ensure that we are in a position to offer the services members need.

The successful bidders to the second round of the Regional Growth Fund have now been announced. This £1.4bn challenge fund is intended to help areas and communities at risk of being particularly affected by public spending cuts. A further £950 million was allocated in this round, and once again, Northern Regions have received the majority of allocations from the fund.

The NHC supported the second meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Housing in the North last week. The changing of date for the debate on the EU referendum meant the meeting clashed with the PM's speech but even with this 'excitement' we managed to get a reasonable representation of MPs who were both interested and concerned about the issues profiled in our recent work on the New Homes Bonus and working with the Health sector.

Consortium Procurement have recently completed a procurement exercise to populate a four year framework for assisted living. The specification, which was carefully prepared with Members, utilises the Consortium's experience to design accessible solutions. 14 supply partners have been awarded to the framework to provide the specified services to Members of the Northern Housing Consortium.

Consortium Procurement have awarded contracts for the provision of Grounds Maintenance of Neighbourhoods and Open Spaces (North) and Grounds Maintenance of Neighbourhoods and Open Spaces (Midlands, South, Wales).

The Deputy Prime Minister has today (31st October, 2011) announced the successful bidders to the second round of the Regional Growth Fund - the £1.4bn challenge fund intended to help areas and communities at risk of being particularly affected by public spending cuts.

The Northern Housing Consortium has published a toolkit - co-designed with health, public health, social care and housing colleagues - to help the housing sector play a stronger and more visible role in tackling health inequalities and improving outcomes. 'A foot in the door: a guide to engaging housing and health' sets

This week the Northern Housing Consortium has published a toolkit that will help the housing sector play a stronger and more visible role in tackling health inequalities and improving outcomes. The toolkit 'A foot in the door: a guide to engaging housing and health' aims to demystify the organisational structures and assurance processes of health and care and sets out six clear steps for housing organisations to take when putting together your offer and building stronger collaborative relationships with the new leaders of health and wellbeing.

The Northern Housing Consortium (NHC) has over twenty years experience in facilitating the procurement of products and services that assist people with care needs to live independently, with dignity and the ability to manage their own conditions. We have, through several different guises aggregated demand in excess of £25 million per annum from our Members and they have benefited through economies of scale with more cost efficiencies and higher quality services.

A new government scheme which provides a cash bonus to areas that allow new housing development has significant risks for the North of England, according to a new report published today.

We are hosting the Northern Silver Screen Awards as a Gala Dinner at the Northern Housing Summit, 22nd November 2011. The evening will showcase each of the shortlisted awards and announce the winners in each category and promises to be a fantastic opportunity to share positive practice examples and network with colleagues.

The Northern Housing Consortium will be hosting it's Member's only, Annual Christmas Lunch on the 2nd December 2011 at Ramside Hall Hotel, Durham. This year's guest speaker is Chief Political Correspondent for Radio 5 Live, John Pienaar.

The Energy Bill has reached the report stage in the House of Lords.

In light of the considerable cuts in public sector spending, many organisations will be considering how best to manage cuts and how they could generate savings but not compromise service delivery. Inevitably, the role of shared services comes to the fore.

Two Consortium Procurement Approved Partners, Eaga and The Gas Company, have been recognised in the Morgan and Lambert Service Provider Awards for Excellence.

We are receiving a lot of interest in anticipation of our Cumulative Impact Report. This explores the cumulative effect of the Government's policies on northern communities, and makes for some very interesting reading.We will shortly be forwarding a copy of the report to main contacts within our members organisations.