National Tenant Voice to wind down company structure
The National Tenant Voice is to wind down its formal company structure as it seeks a way to carry on independently.
Board members agreed last week the body, set up at the start of the year to give tenants a voice, no longer needed to be constituted as a limited company.
It has put in a bid to housing minister Grant Shapps for £50,000 to investigate the feasibility of it running independently of the government’s help.
Mr Shapps announced that the NTV, with its 15 board members and 50-strong tenant council, was to go in the ‘bonfire of quangos’.
The directors have already started to look into ways of incorporating the council members into a ‘united and strong tenant movement’.
Michael Gelling, chair of the NTV, said: ‘We have all been in a state of shock since our funding was pulled. But there was a sense of strength and unity among the board, and a determination that the skills and expertise of the tenants on the NTV Council will not be lost.
‘At our board meeting everyone agreed that the need for tenants’ voices to be heard at the heart of policy making was as great as ever.’
Mr Gelling said Mr Shapps had given every positive indication that he would grant the group the money it has bid for.
The NTV was set up under the Labour government to give tenants a voice to influence national housing policy with an original budget of £1.5 million, which was cut to £1.25 million and then withdrawn in July.
The four national tenants’ groups - the Tenant Participation Advisory Service, Tenants’ and Residents’ Organisations of England, Confederation of Co-operative Housing, and the National Federation of Tenant Management Organisations – aim to set up a separate ‘joint national tenant scrutiny committee’.
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Readers' comments (11)
Anonymous | 19/08/2010 11:15 am
That they're in a "state of shock" says it all really. If they'd read Conservative policy documents a year ago they would have known they were not long for the world. The final pitch for a £50k handout marks another embarassing low for an organisation predicated on offering air for handouts, the calling card of NuLabour in its pomp. "Get out and close the door behind you, please".
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Chris | 19/08/2010 11:29 am
One by one the voices that could dissent will be closed, then who will speak up for the tenants when the final solution is applied to rid the nation of this supposed cursed class?
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Melvin Bone | 19/08/2010 12:03 pm
'Christopher Webb | 19/08/2010 11:29 am
One by one the voices that could dissent will be closed, then who will speak up for the tenants when the final solution is applied to rid the nation of this supposed cursed class?'
Kass probably.
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Narra | 19/08/2010 12:29 pm
"One by one the voices that could dissent will be closed, then who will speak up for the tenants when the final solution is applied to rid the nation of this supposed cursed class?"
The TSA? Oh wait....
You hit the nail on the head though, 'one by one'. There should have only ever been one. It should have the force to get the tenants needs across, rather than multiple half arsed tenant services that did little to further the tenants needs and just soaked up money.
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Chris | 19/08/2010 12:29 pm
In which case Kass should get a fair allowance for the role - I'd suggest at least 10% of what the NTV want to spend on finding out if they should exist - it would be vfm.
Kass - if you need an assistant can I be first in the queue, but can I ask for a space for ILAG so that leaseholders are not forgotton, another space for Melvin to keep us grounded, and a cupboard to keep Anonymous in to be opened when we need a laugh.
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Anonymous | 19/08/2010 1:44 pm
You haven't seen anything yet.
Come October, starting with the comprehensive spending review, followed by the review of the HRA deficits, followed by almost certainly a rent rise (as promised by Labour), designated sales, the return of right-to-buy and its extension to housing association assets, anonymous in the cupboard will be the only one in the room laughing.
No doubt Christopher Webb and his merry band of loony lefties here will be pointlessly "fighting" while they're weepin' and wailin' ... for the next 15 years.
Can I keep laughing for the next 15 years?
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Melvin Bone | 19/08/2010 1:53 pm
Most social housing rents went down this year, which will be levelled out by an increase next year (probably!).
So effectivley 2 years with no rent increase is pretty good...
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Chris | 19/08/2010 1:58 pm
I'm going to have to get a padlock to put on that cupboard door - and perhaps some padding for its walls.
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Anonymous | 19/08/2010 2:05 pm
Too right, Mr Bone.
If I remember right, Labour had an inflation-adjusting rise coming in a couple of years ago but pulled it as its electoral signficance became pressing.
That's still unfinished business though. And a rise now fits the electoral cycle.
Labour thinks of social housing tenants as its people ( and comprehensively stuff 'em for that misguided loyalty ).
Cons are entitled to take the opposite view. No need to engage in subterfuge - just stuff 'em.
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Lauren Collins | 20/08/2010 2:05 pm
Firstly I need to say that I am against all this coalition government stands for, so that readers understand the perspective I'm coming from. The National Tenant Voice wants to investigate the feasibility of becong 'an independant body'. Quite right too. How can an organisation dependnat on the state for funding be 'independant'. We tenants need a national voice, and it should act for ALL tenant, and that includes tenants in the private rented sector. With housing benfit being capped and more and more people with no choice but to rent privately, a national tenant voice will be needed which is not 'directed' by the givernment.
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