Stronger Together on Welfare Reform 25 September 2013 Kim Gallagher & Linda Beel Coast & Country Tenant Panel
Transforming tenant involvement
Time for change
What’s working Clear roles and responsibility Leaders – The Board Shapers – The Tenant Panel Evaluators – The Scrutiny Panel
Code of conduct Action Plan Terms of Reference Corporate Planning Company target setting Leadership Team meetings
Transformed tenant involvement
Tenants lead the way
Tenants Talking to Tenants
Me and My Home
Shaping Development
Working with Others Go on Boro! Community Learning Champions Workers Education Authority Union Learn Other housing providers Womens’ Centre NEP
Impact on North East Estimated £380m loss ‘Cumulative loss could be £940min C Beatty and S Fothergill, Hitting the poorest places hardest: the local and regional impact of welfare reform, CRESR, 2013
NE -Impact on disabled Estimated 70,000 affected by changes to ESA Loss of £175m Estimated 33,000 affected by change from DLA to PIP Loss of £128m
The media
Strivers Skivers Hard working tax payers Welfare scroungers Sanctions
Employment Unemployed Nov 12 – Jan 13 National figure7.9% North East10.1% Redcar & Cleveland 12.2%
Why we needed to act! Impact on Tenants Impact on landlord So we Talked to our Chief Executive
Tenants Together Together we can make a difference
The Campaign Launch 72 tenant representatives, from 25 housing providers, representing 195,000 tenants
The Petition Stop Bedroom Tax!
Tenants Together Cutting the housing benefit of social housing tenants with ‘spare’ bedrooms will hit the poor, the vulnerable and the disabled hardest Coast & Country’s Tenant Panel is harnessing the voice and power of 100,000 social housing tenants to launch a mass protest to stop Bedroom Tax. Join us in our campaign and help get our voice heard in Parliament. Together we can make a difference!
Outcomes The Petition – over 4,000 names so far Local councillors lobbying for change Tenants Working Together Facebook Newsletters Letters to MPs Local MP to raise the issues at the Lib- Dem Conference
Lib-Dem Conference The conference ‘Condemns the bedroom tax for ‘discriminating against the most vulnerable in society They also said: ‘There is something going wrong when standards of living go forward for battery hens, but backwards for people’
Following on … Radio interviews TV interviews Newspaper articles Invited to other housing associations Speaking at rallies
Revised allocations policy regarding bedroom tax arrears Supporting Credit Unions Local Food bank Personal credit options including
Developing Digital Inclusion
4815 Advice1423 Into work 101 Apprenticeships 2598 Training places
Questions What is your landlord doing about Welfare Reform? What are you doing as tenant representatives? What do you think is the way forward?
What you can do Talk to: your Chief Executive! other involved tenants your M. P. Local councillors
Consequences