By Neil Merrick
17 February 2010
Social landlords are largely unprepared for their looming new regulatory system, a Chartered Institute of Housing survey reveals.
The survey of human resource professionals found that almost two in five (39%) were unable to say what impact the Tenant Service Authority’s framework, due to start on April 1, will have on their organisation. A further 6% said it would have little or no impact.
The CIH interviewed 150 HR staff at housing associations, stock-holding local authorities and arm’s-length management organisations. Just 36% of respondents thought the new system would have an impact or major impact, while the remainder were unsure.
Among local authorities, just 8% said the TSA system would have a major impact while 15% thought it would have none. Housing associations and Almos were more likely to believe the new system would have an impact.
The TSA has been using standards it inherited from the Housing Corporation to regulate housing associations since December 2008. Its new standards, due to be published next month, will cover local authorities and Almos for the first time.
Richard Capie, director of policy at the CIH, said: ‘Many organisations may be underprepared and not fully ready to respond to what is a fundamentally new approach to regulating affordable housing.’
Richard Moriarty, the TSA’s director for policy and market intelligence, said it was working with the sector to explain how the new framework would operate, in particular the role of boards in developing standards with tenants.
