A new "naming and shaming" policy is to be introduced to improve the record of mainstream housing associations towards black and minority ethnic communities
The Housing Corporation is to ask associations to set targets for the proportion of black and minority ethnic communities that they house.

The agency will then publish performance against those targets. A similar process will take place to help increase the number of black senior staff and committee members in the sector.

The move is being piloted in the corporation's north west region, but next year the agency hopes to introduce new questions in its regulatory forms nationally.

Corporation head of policy research and statistics David Cheesman said: "New questions will help to put the spotlight on the issue."

He added: "It's not so much about standing people in the corner. We are looking at progress over the years."

But he conceded that the policy could be characterised as "naming and shaming."

He also stressed that the agency would not add questions unnecessarily to the Regulatory and Statistical Return.

Federation of Black Housing Organisations executive director Harris Beider said: "There are a small number of mainstream RSLs who are committed, there are a larger number who are apathetic, and there are a minority who are completely hostile. The challenge is to get the last two categories into the first."

Source

Housing Today