Spring is in the air, as is the smell of dead seals
Hot line
Anyone who has tried to contact the Housing Corporation on a regular basis may well be used to unanswered calls, unreturned messages and ringing phones.

But at least the Manchester office has an excuse. After a fire in a BT tunnel, some of the city's phone lines are down – including the corporation's. Sources say it could take at least a week to fix, so Northern RSLs hoping for a quick response shouldn't hold their breath.

The rise and rise of Kate Barker
Economist Kate Barker, who led the Treasury's inquiry into the supply of UK housing, obviously impressed the right people with her final report last month.

Last week she became only the second person to be reappointed to the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee and the chancellor is understood to be quite a fan of hers. Clearly, despite telling the government that it desperately needs to build a lot of homes, there are no hard feelings in the Treasury.

It doesn't add up
The most recent census was notorious for mistakes and it turns out that housing was not immune. Apparently, the tenure figures were skewed because stock transfer tenants thought they were still with the council and housing benefit claimants believed they were living in free housing. The ODPM plans to rectify the errors.

Home truths
Peter Dixon is a brave man. At a recent function organised by the NHF's East of England team, the Housing Corporation chair admitted to owning a second home in Norfolk – despite much of the conversation having centred on how second homeowners are pricing locals out of the market in areas such as – you guessed it – Norfolk.

Family meets its Waterloo
Family Housing Association has unveiled plans to advertise on one of the huge billboards next to the railway lines that run into Waterloo station.

This means that alongside the posters for global brands, there will be one that extols the joys of working in social housing.

Visitors arriving on the Eurostar, which travels on the same track, will doubtless be intrigued.

A great track record
The civil servants hired to smooth the bumpy beginnings of Supporting People include a former Network Rail official. Send all jokes about hitting the buffers to the usual address.

Crime has a new enemy, and he's 2D
Short of funds to pay community wardens? Perhaps you could follow the lead of a Gloucestershire council. It has ordered 20 cardboard cut-outs of traffic wardens, which it will position at strategic points in town. That's the war on crime won then.

Seal of disapproval

Call centres may be efficient, but going by the experience of one association they also need to prepare for the unexpected. Departing National Housing Federation deputy chief executive James Tickell recently recalled a visit to Harvest Housing Association’s new call centre, where telephonists had been given scripts for every possible query. Or so they thought. One of the first calls was from a resident who had found a dead seal in their garden. Needless to say, the situation hadn’t featured in any of the staff’s roleplays.

Source

Housing Today