Locata has launched two new enhancements designed to make the management of housing applicants even more efficient and effective. Both enhancements were flagged up and discussed at the Virtual National Users Group in July and are now available to order. Document Uploads The document upload enhancement is already being used by several schemes across the […]

As part of our commitment to supporting members to improve homes and lives through the decarbonisation of our existing housing stock, the Northern Housing Consortium team has been getting carbon literate! Carbon literacy is an awareness of the carbon dioxide costs and impacts of everyday activities, and the ability and motivation to reduce emissions, on […]

#OurNorth Net Zero partners Momentum is growing around the NHC’s #OurNorth Net Zero programme, we are very proud to announce our five partners who are enabling the ground-breaking programme designed to help our members decabonise their housing stock. We’re delighted to welcome: Halton Housing Liverpool City Region Housing Associations Thirteen Together Group Consortium Procurement Their generous […]

Award-winning digital marketing agency, Mediaworks, has completed a year-long project with Home Group, the UK’s leading provider of high-quality housing, health, and social care to deliver a new digital experience. The project set out to deliver accessible and personalised online content to Home Group’s customer groups, enabling them to quickly find the information they are […]

Develop your leadership skills, think differently about organisational challenges and come together with strategic leaders from across the sector through action learning. The Northern Housing Consortium is delighted to be working with Action Learning Associates to run a series of Action Learning Sets for strategic leaders in the sector from September 2020. Action Learning Sets […]

The £400m Brownfield Housing Fund has now been largely allocated – and the North’s city regions are big winners. The Brownfield Housing Fund was announced at the March Budget – with Chancellor Rishi Sunak commenting it would help “ambitious Mayoral Combined Authorities and local areas to establish housing on brownfield land across the country”. On […]

On the 13th July the Northern Housing Consortium launched #OurNorth – Net Zero at a Webinar where we were joined speakers representing the United Nations, devolved Combined Authorities, and of course the NHC membership. Here, we outlined our commitment to achieving Net-Zero as a core policy objective.  Our long-term aim is to ensure that homes […]

On June 24th, over 40 NHC members joined with the NHC and Homes England for a joint workshop on local authority skills and capacity.  The highly interactive session was focused on understanding and responding to local government capacity needs. The Homes England team presented their emerging thinking on the agency’s role in providing the skills […]

Decarbonising the North of England’s existing housing stock will be central to the UK’s climate ambitions, with figures from 2017 showing that 26% of all carbon emissions across the northern regions are from our existing homes. Work is under way, Local Authorities across the North have declared climate emergencies and Housing associations and ALMOs have […]

Award-winning digital agency Mediaworks and York St John University have received over 2,500 applications from across the world in just 10 days for their Virtual Digital Marketing short course. At the beginning of May, Mediaworks and York St John University agreed to produce and deliver a shortened introductory version of their MSc course. With businesses […]

The NHC is delighted to be working in partnership with the University of Huddersfield on a new research project which will explore the impact of Northerner’s homes on their experience of lockdown. This will include issues like the standard and quality of homes, overcrowding and access to outdoor space. The research team will undertake interviews […]

We are committed to providing you with opportunities to come together online so we can collectively support each other during this period. We have already held webinars with the Housing Minister, the CEO of the Regulator of Social Housing and the Housing Ombudsman among others. We have been busy planning some further events for different […]

The first round of funding for the Unlocking Success Bursary Scheme has been awarded to tenants from member organisations across the North. The scheme is funded through the NHC’s Charitable Trust and helps tenants across the North develop learning and skills to support future employment. The applications received covered a vast array of support requests […]

The Chancellor presented his Budget on March 11th.   Whilst recent events have dwarfed the scale of announcements, it contained some important news for our members. The NHC produced our usual on-the-day briefing after the Budget earlier this month. There were elements to welcome within the Budget – such as the commitment to extend the Affordable […]

The 2019 General Election returned 140 new MPs to Parliament; of these, 40 represent constituencies in the North of England. Traditionally, new MPs arrive in Westminster and deliver their first speech to the House that gives some personal and constituency background, as well as briefly setting out the issues they aim to confront in the […]

Guest blog by Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman It is critical for the Ombudsman, as well as resolving individual disputes, to share the insight and learning from our casework to improve services across the sector. We do this in several ways already – from training through to reports focusing on a specific issue – and will […]

Paul Fox, Director of Workplace Solutions, Texthelp Did you know that more than 15,000 businesses in the UK have signed up to the Disability Confident Scheme? Disability Confident organisations play a leading role in changing attitudes for the better. They’re changing behaviour and cultures in their own businesses, networks and communities, and reaping the benefits […]

The NHC events calendar starts the new year off on a strong footing with two events looking at Social Value and Housing Strategy. An annual event now in its 6th year, our Social Value conference is run in collaboration with HACT, who have pioneered social value measurement in the sector. With an eclectic programme in […]

The Northern Housing Summit took place earlier this month, attended by over 180 representatives from housing associations and local authorities. The day had three main themes running throughout – future vision and ambition, quality and place, and capacity, delivery and regulation. Our Chief Executive, Tracy Harrison welcomed delegates to the event, recognising that we face […]

Where are we now? I’ve worked in the NHC’s Member Engagement team since 2015, and we’ve seen huge changes during that time, both to the housing landscape and in how we deliver services to our 146 local authority, housing association and ALMO members across the North. We’ve fundamentally changed the way we engage with members, […]

We’re excited to bring you our Sponsor and Exhibitor Showcase for the Northern Housing Summit 2019 which takes place on the 5th November in the Renaissance Hotel, Manchester. All food and drinks will be served in the exhibition area which will be open throughout the event. Come and join us and our other exhibitors in […]

It has become apparent during our conversations with members in our regular roundtable events that housing providers and local authorities are increasingly having to take up the slack and are investing increasing resources to ensure the smooth running of the Universal Credit system for the benefits of claimants and to maintain sustainable tenancies. As promised […]

Mediaworks has recently partnered with the Northern Housing Consortium (NHC). As NHC’s Supporter member The partnership between NHC and Mediaworks will see Mediaworks provide digital advice and marketing expertise within the housing market. Mediaworks will provide sponsorship at trade shows, as well as offering member-relevant advice and insights. The partnership will ensure that members of […]

Britain’s housing system is not delivering the homes that the country needs or that people can afford. The evidence set out in our bold new Greater Manchester Housing Strategy makes it clear that our broken housing market is directly impacting the lives of many of us in this city-region. The housing crisis takes many forms, […]

Steve Douglas CBE, Group Chief Executive, Altair  I’m delighted to chair the annual NHC/Altair Asset Management Seminar once again. It is so important that northern housing providers have as much access to the policy debates on building safety, compliance and regulation, as London and the south providers do. This year’s seminar focusses on trying to […]

Blog by officers attending from Sheffield City Council Intro John Three of us from Sheffield City Council had a day out at this conference in June. We are Shahid Khan, Engagement & Development Officer, Waleed Al-Gulaidi, Community Engagement Apprentice, and John Loveless, Manager of the Community Engagement Team. We met Barbara Spicer, Chief Executive of […]

Dawn McGuigan, Head of Brand and Communications at Gentoo talks through how health and safety teams can work with communications teams in a crisis. I recently spoke at Northern Housing Consortium’s Health and Safety 2019 conference about how communications and health and safety teams can work together to protect the reputation of their organisation during […]

The NHC hosted an event last week which saw Greater Manchester Housing Providers come together with local authorities to discuss how they tackle some of the key housing challenges facing Greater Manchester. Launched last year by GMHP, the Ambition to Deliver is a manifesto setting out how the 26 housing providers can work together with […]

…but just what, exactly, is The Armed Forces Covenant?  Hi, I’m Yvonne Castle, CEO of Johnnie Johnson Housing and a Board Member of our wonderful Northern Housing Consortium. I’d love to hear if you’ve signed the Covenant and what success stories you have! A bit about Johnnie – Johnnie Johnson was a real person.  He […]

With the NHC set to launch a training programme for new and aspiring housing leaders, Glynis Osbourne discusses the importance of investing in first-time managers. Here are our top 10 reasons to invest in first level management The Northern Housing Consortium and Thinking Success UK will soon be launching their Stepping into Housing Leadership Programme. […]

The TV Licensing Community Relations team was set up to better interact with organisations that play a big part in their local communities. We are committed to making our information accessible to everyone in the community, and we work with a range of organisations such as housing, caring, money advice and multilingual groups to achieve […]

Lee Sugden, Chief Executive, Salix Homes and NHC Board member At the last count, there were over 600,000 empty homes in England – that equates to two years’ worth of the Government’s targets for new home completions. Of those, more than 200,000 are classed as long-term empty, in that they’ve stood empty for more than […]

Thirteen’s employability service has launched a new scheme to support young people aged 16-24 from County Durham into work (funded by DurhamWorks as part of the Youth Employment Initiative). Over recent years Thirteen has extended its employability portfolio, delivering services for both tenants and the wider public.  Our support progressing individuals into work has provided […]

The new independent Affordable Housing Commission (AHC) is chaired by Lord Best and includes housing experts and parliamentarian commissioners.   The Smith Institute will act as secretariat to the commission and the NHC will be supporting the commission by holding an event on 1 March 2019 (this event focuses on the North East and Yorkshire and […]

Landlords have a legal requirement to ensure that a property is safe before letting it to a new tenant and local authorities have a statutory duty to keep the housing conditions in their area under review. It is now almost thirteen years since the introduction of the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS). Introduced […]

  In 2016, Plus Dane, in partnership with SHAP, was awarded the Refugee Resettlement Contract for Halton Borough Council; Halton are a great Council to work with and there was a coalition of the willing. The contract fitted well with the social and moral purpose of our organisation. And so began a new strand of […]

Liam Gregson, Member Engagement Officer, Northern Housing Consortium With austerity swelling social housing’s role as an ‘ambulance service’ for vulnerable groups, it is unsurprising that the mental health problems faced by residents has come increasingly into focus. Research by the Money and Mental Health Policy Institute has suggested that one in three people living in […]

The Social Housing Green Paper published last year included a specific question around how residents can be supported by their landlords to ensure their homes are safe. A Call for Evidence – available here –  has been issued to understand what safety issues are most important, the extent to which current engagement works and what […]

In this article, Ward Hadaway discusses the renewed focus on modular (formerly known as ‘prefab’) housebuilding, particularly in light of the latest Affordable Housing Supply figures, published on 22 November 2018. The recent statistics The Affordable Housing Supply 2017-2018 figures, published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, show a staggering 78% reduction […]

The appetite for mergers, group structures and amalgamations within the housing sector does not appear to be slowing, fuelled by the need to realise efficiencies, increase financial resilience and to create the capacity to increase the supply of much needed new homes. As Torus, a north-west based group comprising Golden Gates Housing Trust and Helena […]

Our lives today are dominated by technology, from smartphones, to social networks, to the IoT, all of which we are now using daily in our places of work – and housing providers are no exception to this trend. As a result, hardly a day goes by without a mention of the need to transform digitally […]

One area of interest contained in the recently published Social Housing Green Paper was the renewed focus on neighbourhood management and addressing anti-social behaviour as a core component of the ‘new deal’ between tenants and landlords.  This work has always been vital and respected as such by social housing providers, yet it was notable to […]

Despite the terrible weather conditions that blighted the final week of February, a strong group of intrepid adventurers braved the elements on the 27th to attend the North West Housing Forum’s Debate on Regeneration. The Forum, which is supported by the NHC, brings together the housing officers, Board Members, and Elected Members of the North […]

Now there’s a question to get the brain cells working. For many, to even question the assertion that planned maintenance delivers value for money is heresy. But is it?  Given that the vast majority of social housing has been modernised in the last 15 years and most have “reasonably modern” facilities, is continuing with component […]

        We welcomed close to 70 delegates to Leeds for Tackling and Preventing Homelessness: The Role of the Housing Sector, delivered in partnership with Locata. With a mix of local authorities and housing providers in attendance and a great range of speakers, this event proved to be informative and insightful with lots […]

The Homelessness Reduction Act recently became law and is due to be enacted in April 2018. The Draft Homelessness Code of Guidance provides direction on how local authorities should meet the requirements of homelessness legislation and has been updated to include information on the Homelessness Reduction Act.  The revised draft guidance is now open for consultation until […]

  As housing associations battle reduced government subsidies and increased regulatory requirements, they face an uphill struggle to increase productivity without a significant outlay. One way in which organisations are looking to increase output and reduce expenditure is through digital transformation. By updating processes related to IT and procurement, housing associations and housing groups in […]

More services like Universal Credit are being transferred online – but at what cost to providers and end users? Mark McCusker, CEO of assistive technology specialists Texthelp highlights the importance of digital inclusion for housing associations and their residents. To describe the ongoing rollout of Universal Credit as an interesting challenge for UK housing associations […]

In its guest blogs, NHC Supporter Ward Hadaway offers the legal perspective and some guidance on some of the social housing sector’s most pressing issues. In this edition: social housing risk profiling. What are the main financial risks facing social housing providers? This is one of the things which the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) […]