Ann Martin of HACAS Chapman Hendy scrutinises the pilot scheme before it clicks into action.
The revolution in Lettings systems
is upon us. Decades of carefully crafted points systems to measure need and
all the infra-structure around them are being swept away by a tide of choice
- or so it seems.
Following the Green Paper and the government's invitation to bid for Choice
based lettings pilots, the announcement of the winning authorities has no doubt
started a flurry of activity among the 27 and their partner organisations. These
include other authorities, LSVTs, RSLs, some private housing companies and at
least two or three of the major IT housing suppliers. There will be a flurry
of activity within the suppliers' organisations too. One housing officer told
me the announcement was hardly public before the letter hit their desk from
one supplier.
Lots has already been written regarding the Dutch model and its suitability
for all. What good PR by Newham, who include the City of Hague in their partners,
and First software who have purchased software used there. But before rushing
to spend the £3.5m put up by the government for information technology the issues
for IT procurement are as ever:-
So what are the proposals for how
people are to express choice? Not surprisingly the most common access method
in the bids is via the internet and web sites, and then via kiosks. Other common
themes are for newspapers, bulletins and mailshots and access via one-stop shops,
property shops and the like. Some mention the role of Estate Offices and freephone
service, and of course cable and digital TV are mentioned along with video-conferencing.
Project manager jobs are starting to appear in the press as authorities scramble
to move forward at the pace set by DETR. Some organisations, like Harborough
and Bolton may already be well down the track. Some of the consortiums have
new policies in place and agreement in moving from a points based scheme to
something closer resembling the Delft model. Some will already be close to their
RSL partners having operated a common register or waiting list. However, issues
of confidentiality, differing policies and procedures and housing management
strategies seemed to be some of the reasons common allocations policies often
fell apart between RSLs and LAs when they were debated in the 90s - can they
be more productive this time. Some groups will still need to go through the
process of starting to working together and build up trust and common language.
Herefordshire Council's bid is interesting as an example of rural issues
in a large geographical region with scattered market towns with high population
and distant rural outposts. Whilst owner occupation is high with prices rising
dramatically (21% in the last year), the county has the lowest average gross
earnings in the West Midlands. The bid is in partnership with Marches HA and
the Partnership Housing Group.
They are looking to set up a common integrated housing register and review the
lettings policies. They will create a 'estate agent' style lettings agency,
jointly owned and managed with a brand image that avoids the stigma of the social
housing 'tag'. In terms of IT they see a 'virtual lettings agency' through internet
links to rural Post Offices.
The Marches Housing Director, Chris Boote, points out that 'rural communities
don't have easy access to the infrastructure that makes delivery of technology
easier - there's no cable in these rural communities. The Post Office is often
the social centre.' He also sees IT a long way down the list of critical issues.
'If we don't understand and recognise the underpinning policy drivers for each
organisation and be prepared to get to an understanding of where we have consensus
and where we differ it won't work.' They are looking to have workshops so that
they can 'share the vision' between all the stakeholders. Before looking at
the business processes and then the IT solutions, they recognise the need for
mutual understanding and objectives.
How will this affect some of the national RSLs like The Guinness Trust? Their
Housing Policy Manager, Frances Kneller, told me that they think it will work
out that they are involved in 25 authorities which are pilots or partner authorities.
The different models and approaches that these then take will create different
and complex expectations for the Trust and impact on their policy.
There are other rural authorities such as Bath and North East Somerset where
there is again high expectations and high demand and a big variance in demographic
mix within the area. David Trethewey, Strategic Housing Manager talked about
how their pilot (which will involve the 14 registered landlords plus the transfer
organisation) follows a lot of research on needs assessment and accessibility
and how this is part of a wider strategy about service provision. Kennet will
be providing 100 households the ability to log onto the council website via
inter-active TV.
There are a number of different issues in the city bids. Sunderland will be
busy having just transferred. They are looking to respond to customers within
48 hours of their expressing their choice. Bradford's bid is strong in assisted
access to under-represented groups and follows research by Anne Power on Improving
Asian Access.
London is virtually covered by a number of bids, although many of the pilots
do not cover whole boroughs or all types of stock. Camden has four partner councils,
Ealing has four partner authorities, Newham with three LAs, Croydon, Hammersmith
plus four and Haringey, Lewisham. To make all this work one would imagine a
substantial proportion of the monies for IT must be earmarked for these schemes.
Many of the boroughs have difficulty with managing their existing systems to
maximise their investment. There will be some hard issues here as the pilots
develop. Most of the bids include RSLs and other partners.
Hammersmith is looking to boost the overall volume of lettings. This will
be achieved by mimicking the operation of the private housing market in that
the pool of potential 'move-on' properties is to be widened from those already
vacant to occupied by another aspiring mover. Tenants seeking moves will be
encouraged to register their properties on a website and to search the site
for details of registered properties meeting their own requirements.
This creation of chaining has always been a requirement from housing organisations
in software but always difficult to deliver. Using the tenant's proactive involvement
will be an interesting pilot with a different slant.
Like any IT procurement exercise getting the technology right needs to follow
detailed understanding of the issues. It seems clear from all the articles and
discussion about the suitability of the Dutch model here that there will be
no one solution.
DETR are in the process of tendering work to monitor and evaluate the pilots,
and to carry out market research on users views and outcomes. Let's hope both
the process of procurement and the outcomes of IT provision will be a part of
that evaluation.
The Winners
Bath and North East Somerset BC LSVT
Blackburn with Darwen BC LSVT
Bolton MBC
Bradford MDC
Brighton and Hove BC
Camden LBC
Coventry MBC LSVT
Croydon LBC
Derby CC
Ealing LBC
Eastbourne BC
Hammersmith & Fulham LBC
Harborough DC
Haringey LBC
Herefordshire Council
Kennet DC
Lewisham LBC
Manchester CC
Mansfield DC
Medway Council LSVT
New Forest DC
Newham LBC
Restormel BC LSVT
Sandwell MDC
Sheffield MBC
Stockport MBC
Sunderland LSVT
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