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