SFHA Proposes Alternative Social Housing Charter

Housing associations and co-operatives across Scotland have put their heads together to help the SFHA produce an alternative to the Scottish Government's Social Housing Charter.

The SFHA alternative is simpler and will benefit tenants, Government and social landlords.

Launched today (Friday 28th October 2011), the alternative Charter reduces the outcomes from 71 to a more manageable 9.

These are easy to understand and will be easier to measure, as well as addressing serious concerns which SFHA members have with the existing proposals.

The SFHA's Alternative Social Housing Charter has been submitted today in response to the Scottish Government's consultation on its Social Housing Charter, aimed at giving tenants a greater role in scrutinising the work of their landlord - housing association, co-operative or council.

Alan Stokes, SFHA Policy and Strategy Manager said:

"The SFHA and its members had several concerns about the current Scottish Social Housing Charter proposals. The proposed charter is just too long - with 71 outcomes - and would lead to excessive, resource-intensive and costly reporting requirements for landlords, at a time when resources are under pressure.

"What's more, the draft Charter is filled with ambiguous wording and is almost impossible to measure. In its current form the Charter could not be used by the Scottish Housing Regulator to measure the performance of landlords in Scotland, which effectively means it is not fit for its intended purpose.

"Therefore, in order to improve the Charter, the SFHA and its members - including tenant committee members of housing associations and co-operatives - worked together to draw up an alternative Social Housing Charter.

"Our alternative Charter condenses the principles in the Government draft into something far shorter, more accessible to tenants, and measurable. We contend this is a constructive and practical alternative to Government proposals.

"Following the hard work of our members and tenants, the SFHA calls upon the Scottish Government to use our alternative charter as the basis for redrafting its proposed Charter."

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For further information, contact Claire Munro on t: 0141 567 6244 m: 07771926778 or e: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Visit our website at www.sfha.co.uk

NOTES:

1) Download a copy of the SFHA's Alternative Social Housing Charter

2) Download a copy of the Scottish Social Housing Charter here

3) The SFHA was established in 1975 and has around 170 members providing affordable housing and wider community services in Scotland, as well as a further 200 commercial members. The SFHA is owned by its membership and exists to support the work of housing associations and co-operatives in Scotland by providing services, advice and good practice guidance.

4) The SFHA is the voice of the principal builders and managers of new affordable housing for rent in Scotland. Housing Associations own and manage around 40% of the country's affordable rented housing stock, over a quarter of a million homes across Scotland.

5) Housing associations and co-operatives are not-for-profit bodies regulated by the Scottish Housing Regulator.