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From the archive – housing associations ordered to update race strategies
Inside Housing looks back at what was happening in the sector 10, 20 and 30 years ago
30 years ago
The first new housing association to take over council stock was facing eye-watering hikes in its pension liabilities.
West Kent Housing Association was waiting to hear from Kent County Council after a consultant warned that its liabilities could rise to £500,000 a year.
The association had been admitted to the county council scheme, while West Kent’s 100 employees that had been transferred from Sevenoaks District Council were also set to continue receiving local authority pension benefits, including index-linked pensions.
The consultant wrote to Tom Buckley, director of finance at West Kent, suggesting that the association had not taken into account the extra cost of the index-linked element in addition to the normal employer’s contribution.
20 years ago
The Housing Corporation was set to demand for the first time that associations show evidence of rigorous ethnic minority strategies for staff and services.
David Cheeseman, its policy, research and statistics chief, said that the next regulatory and statistical return, due in February of the following year, would ask landlords how they were trying to ensure services met the needs of their black and BME communities.
The call for targeted strategies came following attacks on housing associations’ race policies from Moussa Jogee, deputy chair of the Commission for Racial Equality, and Richard Stone, chair of the Jewish Council for Racial Equality.
The corporation’s questions would cover career development, staffing and tenants, with the results to be made public.
The organisation said regulators would visit landlords that give unsatisfactory answers, as well as a random sample of others.
“We have a real worry about some BME communities who are isolated,” Mr Cheeseman explained. “This will make people aware that they need to look at it as a specific issue.”
Picture: Chris McAndrew
10 years ago
John Belcher, chief executive at Anchor Trust, came in for criticism after it emerged that his pay rocketed to £391,000 the previous year, despite the ongoing financial crisis.
The figure marked a 20% overall pay hike for Mr Belcher, who retained the title of social housing’s highest paid chief executive.
His 2008/09 package included a £111,000 bonus, far higher than his nearest rival.
Conservative shadow housing minister Grant Shapps (above) said such a large pay rise was “deeply inappropriate” in difficult economic times.
Anchor justified the salary by saying it was competing with private developers such as McCarthy & Stone and private health care company Bupa.
