World-renowned artist officially opens Teesside autistic school

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The ‘Welcome to My World’ painting which was unveiled by Mackenzie Thorpe during the official opening of the Mackenzie Thorpe Centre.

Children and staff from a school for autistic children in Middlesbrough celebrated the official opening of the school recently to coincide with World Autism Acceptance Week.

 The Mackenzie Thorpe Centre is the North East Autism Society’s (NEAS) newest school at South Bank and provides care and support for up to 30 children aged 5 to 19.

The school opened its doors in September 2020 and welcomed its first cohort of students but due to Covid and lockdowns, NEAS, in partnership with Redcar Borough Council, decided to wait until restrictions eased before organising an official opening.

World-renowned artist Mackenzie Thorpe, who the school is named after and is also a proud patron of NEAS, officially opened the school in front of children, parents, staff and other special guests.

Mackenzie Thorpe, originally from Middlesbrough, is renowned for his art in galleries all over the world, unveiled a special piece commissioned especially for the opening entitled, ‘Welcome to My World’. The painting, which features the famous Transporter Bridge, will be displayed in the school and children also got involved by burying a time capsule in the school grounds which included face masks and hand sanitizer so those digging it up in years to come will learn about what it was like to live in 2022.

Lawyers from Ward Hadaway’s Built Environment Team facilitated a five-year lease for NEAS from Redcar Borough Council, who has also made a significant capital investment into the school.

The Mackenzie Thorpe Centre is the latest transaction Ward Hadaway has delivered for client NEAS. The completion follows the repurposing of Kiora Hall – a historic Edwardian Building on Ragpath Lane in Norton last year. This transaction included facilitating a 25-year lease with Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council.

Katy Milner, Managing Associate in Ward Hadaway’s Built Environment Team in Newcastle, said: “I was delighted to have been invited to attend the official opening of this wonderful new school and to meet the incredible children and staff and celebrate their achievements over the last twelve months.

“It was disappointing that Covid prevented the school from an official opening back in 2020, but having the inspiring and talented Mackenzie Thorpe to carry out the official honours, listening to his touching address and seeing the smiles on everybody’s faces made it all worthwhile.

“I am delighted that Ward Hadaway was able to play a big role in supporting NEAS to secure the lease on this building and help them achieve their vision. I wish them every success for the future and look forward to working with them on more exciting projects.”

John Phillipson, Chief Executive of NEAS, said: “In less than two years we have been able to open two schools on Teesside, which will go a long way in supporting families of autistic children and young people – although there is still more to be done to make education more accessible for neurodivergent children across the region.

“The official opening of the Mackenzie Thorpe Centre not only gave us a chance to celebrate our new school, but also to thank our partners, including Ward Hadaway, whose support and expertise is essential to the development and success of new services.”

Keeping homelessness officers up to speed with HPA2

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Locata’s homelessness system is now being used by more than 115 local authorities across the country.

The HPA2 system was launched in 2018 to help officers with their new duties under the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017.

The system was essentially an upgrade to Locata’s existing Homelessness Prevention and Advice software that had been built 10 years previously with the help and support of several local authorities.

One of the reasons so many homelessness teams use HPA2 is the speed and precision of updates to the system, often driven by new requirements from the Government.

For instance, in February we upgraded every HPA2 system with new functionality to help with the Rough Sleeper Initiative.

This update was free and allows each council to send live data to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (D-LUHC) through the DELTA system about rough sleeping in their area.

It also means that HPA2 users can report, monitor and deliver effective casework on rough sleeping by using the pre-built tasks and questions in the system.

We have also recently rolled out a small set of new features to HPA2 to help homelessness officers capture information about Ukrainian nationals.

This is on top of a recent update to ensure good data gathering and integrity across cases where vulnerable people have support needs as well as a complete revision of all the 155 homelessness template letters in the system informed by changes in caselaw since 2018.

This ties into new work we are undertaking to tailor a series of training courses that will give advice and support to homelessness officers, designed to cover the homelessness process and any legal aspects of case management. Underpinning the courses will be a quiz on all aspects of the duties required of homelessness officers that will be easy to use and fun to engage with.

There is a series of videos showing how HPA2 works, if you would like to know more. Simply follow this link.

Alternatively, please contact us by email at this address enquiries@locata.org.uk

Homes England Guest Blog

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Remember that there are increasing opportunities for affordable housing through the remaining unallocated funding within the SOAHP – Shared Ownership Affordable Housing Programme. Partners are therefore encouraged to speak to Homes England Contract and Relationship Managers at the earliest possible opportunity to discuss project requirements and grant needs to be taken through continuous market engagement (CME).  It is also worth noting that the details of Social Rent and HRA headroom are still subject to ministerial sign off. Homes England will share updates with partners in the coming weeks and months.

Further to the SOAHP, Homes England has reopened bidding for the Department of Health – Care & Support Specialist Housing fund (CASSH) through continuous market engagement (CME).  Under CASSH, CME capital grants will be provided to support and accelerate the development of specialist affordable housing which meets the needs of older people and adults with disabilities or mental health problems. As this will be a continuation of the existing fund the funding requirements will remain unchanged from previous bid rounds, with a published prospectus already in place. Funding will be made available over the next three financial years to 2020/21. As with SOAHP, bidding is through IMS.  See: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/care-and-support-specialised-housing-fund If you would like to know more then please speak to Homes England Contract and Relationship managers at the earliest possible opportunity.

In addition, Homes England is pleased to be soon launching the Community Housing Fund. The £163 million fund will soon be available to community-led groups across England to support delivery of new affordable homes up to 31st March 2020. Community-led housing groups will be able to bid for revenue funding to build capacity in their organisations and to assist them with the costs involved in the pre-development stage of projects. Local Authorities will also be able to bid for funds to support capacity-building activities for community-led groups in their areas and bid for capital funding for small-scale infrastructure projects, such as roundabouts or pumping stations, to unlock sites that the community can then develop for housing. A second phase of the fund is to be launched later this year by Homes England for capital funding to develop community-led affordable housing schemes.

Throughout the North, we are already supporting community led housing activity and we know that communities throughout the North East, Yorkshire and the Humber are mobilising behind this issue. We would like to work with partners to collectively support, resource and facilitate more forms of community led development. The Community Housing Fund is only just part of the picture, let us know if you would like to find out more about the support on offer for community led housing development from national and local organisations with funding for the establishment of organisations, revenue support for project development or peer to peer learning.

Across all programmes, Homes England is working to develop strategic partnerships to accelerate delivery in early years, looking to build the pipeline of schemes and sites using our flexibilities, like the land acquisition tranche, and to see a step change in affordable housing delivery through new ways of working and aligning investment and land opportunities. However, our priority is to build the programme now, taking advantage of the available funding and accelerating delivery this year and next. Talk to us about your sites so we can work together to help shape the proposal.

Whether you are a Local Authority wanting to support a new community organisation with their housing ambitions or a Housing Association working up a new scheme – Get in touch with us to talk about funding needs, tenure mix, revenue or capital support.

For more information email Victoria Keen.

Homes England’s Shared Ownership and Affordable Homes Programme

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The Shared Ownership and Affordable Homes Programme is open for bidding – funding is available for a range of tenures. We offer increased flexibility in 18/19 and beyond – using our land, working in collaboration and encouraging new entrants into the programme. Talk to your Homes England Contract Manger or email Victoria.Keen@homesengland.gov.uk for more details.

The sector now has certainty over rental income, increased funding to £9bn and reclassification – now we collectively need to perform!

Key messages for 18/19:

  • Recent changes mean that there is now so much potential for growth and opportunities for a range of Registered Providers (RPs) and SME Contractors;
  • The challenge is massive but we must grasp this opportunity and not fall at the first hurdle;
  • Continuous Market Engagement (CME) is still open and substantial funds are available – including the newly introduced acquisition tranche payment, which can help with cash flow (ask your Contract Manager for more details);
  • We have a new framework for increased delivery of affordable homes;
  • Look out for the launch of the £163 million Community Housing Fund – available to community-led groups (or with LAs and RPs, in support) across England to support delivery of new affordable homes up to 31st March 2020.

Guest blog: Victoria Keen

Breaking through – understanding and collaborating with the NHS

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In the year that we celebrate the 70th birthday of the NHS, we often forget that the man credited with its creation, Nye Bevan, was not just the Minister for Health, but also for Housing. His vision for the creation of the NHS was equally matched by a vision of a country living in new vibrant neighbourhoods, rebuilt after the war.  In the ten years after the war, 2.5 million homes were built, three-quarters of which were social housing.  Nye Bevan, like many of our greatest reformers, understood the connection between good housing and good health.

70 years later we find ourselves in the grips of a crisis, in both housing and in the NHS. Sadly, there is no longer one Ministry responsible for health and housing, and the division between the two policy areas feels far too large.

For many housing providers, integrating with health has always felt like the right thing to do. We all use the NHS, and the people and families who live in our homes often experience some of the worst health inequalities. Tenants, patients, service users, residents, customers – whatever we call them – are the same people, and it makes sense to work together to provide the help they need to live life to the full.

But why is it so difficult? Why does integration feel so out of reach? And how can we make collaboration happen when our attempts to engage seem to go nowhere?

As difficult as it may seem, integrating housing and health can be done. There are many great examples of housing providers who have made it work, who have taken the time to build the right understanding that opens doors, meets the right people and makes conversations easier.

HACT and the NHC are working together to deliver a Seminar in June that will build understanding about the NHS, and share insights about how to make it work in practice. The seminar will give housing professionals everything they need to know about the healthcare sector and the providers they are seeking to engage with.

From the outside looking in, the operating environment for the NHS can seem daunting. Housing providers often struggle with knowing how best to engage, with whom and with which organisations. They often misunderstand how the healthcare market works and struggle to realise the opportunities available to them.

Like the housing sector, the NHS is diverse and made up of a complex network of independent businesses.  Like all parts of the public sector, it exists within a complex legislative, regulatory, quality and financial framework.  As complex businesses, NHS providers have a range of strategic and operational performance frameworks that, together with defined methods of practice, drive behaviours. And the strategic environment is constantly changing.

The Seminar will build the core understanding needed by housing providers to support their engagement with the NHS. It will explore the key mechanisms and market dynamics of healthcare delivery and share examples and experiences from those who have successfully developed new partnerships, such as Home Group. It will be essential for anyone looking to improve their relationship with the NHS.

Case Study

Home Group

The concept behind the ‘home from hospital scheme’ is simple, says Rachel Byrne, executive director for new models of care at Home Group, which has 55,000 homes nationally and works with more than 26,000 vulnerable people through supported housing, justice and health services.

“Not everyone has friends or family to help them settle in safely at home after a stint in hospital, and without that support a patient can’t be discharged,” she says, spelling out the dilemma faced by hospital administrators countrywide. “So that’s where we come in.”

Offering a six-week package of home support, a team of eight full-time care organisers aided by volunteers work across in-patient and accident-and-emergency wards, assessing the needs of patients whose discharge has been delayed due to an absence of a capable carer.

The Home Group team does not offer hands-on physical care, but act as patient advocates, service providers, social groups and a patient’s extended family to help build a support network that not only eases their return home but seeks to guard against re-admittance. “And the scheme is proving as efficient as it is simple”, adds Ms Byrne.

“Up to 90% of our clients are frail and elderly,” says Ms Byrne. “They are often lonely and isolated. What we do is to put the practical stuff in place – make sure the shopping is being done, that they are aware of transport services such as dial-a-ride, and in some cases liaise with online services that can deliver.”

For Ms Byrne the pilot is part of a wider, emerging relationship between health and housing services, where social landlords have a clear offer, and where the results speak for themselves.

“Social landlords are geared up for this kind of role. In many cases we would be delivering this kind of care to our own residents anyway, but here we are extending to the wider population with great results. It’s a win-win situation.”

Book onto our ‘understanding and working with the NHS’ seminar here.

Guest Blog: Homes England thank Registered Providers

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The Homes England NEYTH team would like to say a huge thank you for all your hard work to achieve such a fantastic result for 17/18. From a position of being significantly under programmed in September 17, working closely with our RP partners, we ended up in a position where we could have exceeded our investment target. This was the result of our teams working closely together to shape investment proposals and using flexibilities to unlock stalled opportunities. In the NEYTH we exceeded both our starts and completions targets. This is a great result and sets us up for an even greater delivery challenge this year. Now that we have proven and demonstrated that the North can deliver, we need to continue to build on this momentum and success.

The Shared Ownership and Affordable Homes Programme is still open for new bids through continuous market engagement – funding is available for a range of tenures until 2021. We have continued with our flexible approach for 18/19 and beyond – using our land, collaboration, working with our partners to deliver more and encouraging new entrants into the programme. We also now have the ability to make acquisition tranche payments, for which we are currently seeking a future pipeline of sites for 18/19.  The NEYTH team continue to use local delegations which means that we can speed up decision making, we ask in return that you speak to your contract managers and Homes England contacts at the earliest possible opportunity to discuss and help shape your programme needs, ambitions and new schemes.

The sector now has certainty over rental income, increased funding to £9bn and reclassification – now we must continue to perform and to increase our own ambition for the North. The challenge is massive but working together we can grasp this opportunity.

For further information, please contact Victoria Keen, Strategy and Information Manager, North East, Yorkshire and The Humber. Tel: 0191 497 7619 | Ext: 7619.

Guestblog: Ward Hadaway – Housing Sector Forecast 2018

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Ward Hadaway logo

In its guest blogs, NHC Supporter Ward Hadaway offers the legal perspective and some guidance on some of the social housing sector’s most pressing issues. In this edition: a look at what’s in store for the housing sector in 2018.

On entering 2018, we reflect on the main outcomes of 2017 for the housing sector and discuss what we can expect in 2018.

Review of 2017

Looking back at 2017, a number of prominent events stood out for the housing sector:

  • The Housing White paper “Fixing our Broken Housing Market” outlined the Government’s plans to reform the housing market and boost the supply of new homes in England.
  • The General Election which gave the UK its sixth housing minister, Alok Sharma MP, since 2010 following Gavin Barwell losing his seat.
  • The supported housing U-turn in which the Government proposed a new ‘three-pronged’ funding model for sheltered, transitional and long-term supported housing from April 2020.
  • The catastrophic event of the Grenfell Tower fire drawing into focus product specification, health and safety and building regulation, management of social housing and the inadequacies of the local authorities in rehousing the victims of the fire.
  • The Autumn budget providing, amongst other things, an investment of £44bn into housebuilding over the next 5 years, a target of 300,000 new homes to be built a year until 2020 and a lift on borrowing caps for councils.
  • Government plans to abandon capping housing benefit for social housing tenants at the Local Housing Allowance (LHA).

What is the forecast for 2018?

The following key points are what we expect to look out for during 2018:

Government papers

The Government is continuing to work on a Social Housing Green Paper. The paper will focus on the safety and quality of social housing, the management of social homes, tenants’ rights and complaints handling procedures. In addition to this, the Green Paper is expected to consider how the sector can contribute to the Government’s economy boosting strategies.

The Government are conducting a nationwide ‘Social Tenant Engagement Questionnaire’ to obtain information on tenant’s views on social housing. The responses will feed into the policy paper and views can be submitted via the following link.

Homelessness

The Homelessness Reduction Act (HRA) is due to come into force in April of this year. The HRA will place duties on local authorities to try and help prevent homelessness by intervening at the earlier stages and some authorities will be under a duty to refer who may be homeless, or vulnerable to being homeless, to a housing authority. There is £72 million available to help authorities implement the HRA with a further £3 million being provided to bodies to update their data systems in order to monitor how the HRA is affecting homelessness in their district.

Changes to the GDPR

Changes to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) come into force on 25th May 2018. The main changes regulate more stringently how organisations manage, store and handle ‘personal information’. Day-to-day work for social landlords and housing associations involves dealing with personal information. Organisations must move to compliance by 25th May 2018.

A snapshot of the property market

Over the past 12 months, house prices have risen 2.5%. Savills and Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) predict a 1% rise in 2018 whereas Countrywide predict a 2% rise. A 3.1% increase is predicted next year by the Independent Office for Budget Responsibility based on first time buyers benefiting from the changes to SDLT whilst a 1.6% decrease has been forecast by Morgan Stanley. The supply of new build homes to rent has increased and as a result, JLL predict no more than 2% increase in rents for 2018.

With the uncertainty of Brexit negotiations and as always the possibility of unforeseen events (such as Grenfell) that tend to shape the landscape, it is always difficult to predict with any certainty what will happen this year. As ever, horizon scanning, preparation, and risk management will be crucial to deal with whatever 2018 presents.

If you have any questions on the above and how it will affect social housing providers, or any other questions as a social housing provider, please do not hesitate to contact me or a member of our expert Social Housing Team.

Joint seminar with the Northern Housing Consortium

We are hosting a seminar with the Northern Housing Consortium (NHC) covering Safeguarding in the Housing Sector on Wednesday, 28th March 2018 in Leeds. For further information and to book your place, please follow the link. Ward Hadaway frequently holds seminars with the NHC on a wide variety of issues concerning the housing sector. It is always worth keeping an eye on the NHC’s events listings or signing up to its weekly events update.


Our expertise

We work with Registered Providers across the country day-in, day-out so we know what kind of issues you face and the pressures under which you work. Our Social Housing Team brings together substantial experience and expertise to provide a full service tailored to meet your needs.

For further information, please contact Howard Walker, PR Manager at Ward Hadaway, on 0191 204 4446 or howard.walker@wardhadaway.com.