	New regulatory framework for social housing. The Tenant Services Authority has set out its priorities for the next three years, to work towards securing a fair deal for tenants, protecting the taxpayer and delivering modern and effective regulation. Key Dates. Social Housing Landlords will have to publish plans for meeting these standards as soon as possible after April 1st 2010 and by no later than October 1st 2010 – and have them in place by no later than April 1st 2011		Our New Service – helping you meet the TSA’s standard ! We are pleased to announce a new service, helping registered providers meet the new TSA standard in Tenant Involvement and Empowerment. By October 2010 all registered providers will have to have in place plans which show how these standards can be met. We can help you achieve that! Have a look at our leaflet.
	North Bransholme ITA. We have been working as Independent Tenant Adviser’s on Hull’s North Bransholme Estate for over 18 months. This project came out of a tenant-led stock options process headed up by the United Residents of Bransholme Area North (URBaN). In November 2009, Hull City Council gave the go ahead for a ballot to be held on the proposed transfer of the estate’s 1100 homes to Riverside Housing Association. Stage 1 began in January 2010, and Stage 2 and the ballot, in early March 2010. We have been very active on the estate holding drop-ins and meetings, we have also produced a number of newsletters and flyers, including those to correct mis-information about the proposed transfer by political parties and trades unions. We also trained all council and Riverside staff on transfer issues to support the door-knocking and distribution of the Offer Document.		Greenfields Community Housing Association. We were delighted in January 2010 to be appointed by one of the UK’s four community gateway housing associations, Essex-based Greenfields Community Housing Association, to impact assess their Community Empowerment Strategy (CES). Greenfields is an innovative, tenant–driven organisation created by a stock-transfer in 2007. The Community Empowerment Strategy is at the heart of defining how its residents can shape its objectives, policies, and services. As well as looking at how well the CES works in its own terms, we are also looking at how well it fits with the TSA’s draft standard tenant involvement and empowerment, and the questions likely to be asked in its forthcoming housing inspection. We are also doing a comprehensive value for money analysis of the CES, which draws upon national data on volunteering and the value created by volunteers. All of this will feed into recommendations for the future shape of the CES and performance targets, outputs, and outcomes.
	Oldham ITA. We have been working since February 2009 as ITA’s in the proposed stock transfer in Oldham of the council’s 12,000 homes to First Choice Homes Oldham (FCHO). FCHO is currently constituted as an ALMO, and if tenants approve the transfer proposal in a ballot which commenced in early 2010, will be one of the first ALMOs to become a housing association. We have worked particularly closely with the Oldham Tenant Forum, delivering a wide-ranging programme of training for Forum members to assist them in shaping the Offer Document. We are particularly pleased that three members of the Forum, none of whom had been previously involved in the governance structures of the ALMO, have been selected as tenant board members of the FCHO Shadow Board. Their selection followed a rigorous assessment process involving written application and interviews, monitored by outside assessors, and co-ordinated by Christine Bailey of PS Consultants.		Business Plan and Fund- Raising Support for The JAA Justice After Acquittal (JAA) is a campaigning group in its infancy. We have been asked to prepare their first business plan and advise them on their future developmental and fund raising strategies in order to meet their twin objectives of campaigning for legal change and the provision of better support services for their members.
			We have moved! We successfully completed our move from our former Chorley base to our new office in Bolton. If you still have our Chorley address and telephone numbers on your database then please have a look at the ‘Contact’ section of this web site for our new details