Ministers want to see strong, accountable and representative bodies both at national and regional levels that can act as an effective voice for social housing tenants. They see such organisations having an important and valuable role supporting tenants at the local level by generating interest and awareness and by stimulating activity. They also can act as a voice that enables tenants’ views to feed into and inform the development of Government policies on matters which affect them.

National bodies

The Tenants and Residents Organisations of England (TAROE) is recognised  as the main umbrella organisation for social housing tenants. We will expect them to continue to develop as an open, accountable and representative body.

The National Federation of Tenant Management Organisations (NFTMO) and the Confederation of Co-operative Housing are recognised as the key specialist national organisations with regard to Tenant Management Organisations and Co-operative Housing respectively.

Clearly it's not for Government to decide how tenants should organise themselves, at national, regional, district or neighbourhood level.  However  the Government has a policy in relationship to how it engages with organisations and what activities it funds. The policy is designed to help create a stronger unified voice for tenants at both national and regional levels.
 
CLG and the Corporation will assist where possible the development of regional representative bodies, as long as these bodies
a) have clear links with TAROE
b) are for all social housing tenants within a region
c) have the support of their Regional Housing Board and the Government Office.

Funding through TEP will be provided to TAROE for 2007/08 to assist the organisation to:

• develop its membership ;
• become a representative and accountable body, with regular two-way communications with its members on organisational and policy issues;
• have positive links with regional tenant and resident fora and to  assist in the development of these;
• continue to develop its income and capacity so that it can continue to operate independently of Government grant.

Funding through the TEP is also provided to NFTMO for 2007/08 to assist the organisation to: 

• promote TMOs and the Right to Manage;   
• maintain the NFTMO website;  
• maintain a national TMO database;
• develop a Critical Friend Service;  
• establish a ‘Trouble Shooting’ Service for TMOs in crisis;
• develop a national TMO training programme.

Regional Bodies

In addition to the support provided to TAROE and the NFTMO, the TEP will in 2007/08 provide support to help develop sustainable organisations at the regional level. TEP funding will be provided to support the development of representative regional tenant and resident organisations provided these:

• can demonstrate that they have the support of tenants and residents organisations in their region;
• are developing a relationship with their Government Office and their Regional Housing Board;
• discuss opportunities for long-term funding with these regional bodies;
• support the development of, and have a clear and mutually agreed relationship with, TAROE which complements rather than competes with each other’s aims and objectives.

Regional bodies will need to show they have support from their Government Office for the Region and their Regional Housing Board for the way they are developing, as these bodies should be a key focus of regional organisations.  

Regional organisations will also need to describe their links with TAROE, or how they propose to develop their links to TAROE. TAROE has agreed to assist with the development of regional organisations where required and will also be working with regional organisations to develop standards and examples of practice.

All TEP funding to regional bodies will be short term (one or two years only) and subject to availability of funds and Government priorities, and targeted to help them achieve the above.  The aim of the TEP funding is to enable regional bodies to develop their organisational structure and to achieve sustainability and financial independence, thereby lessening reliance on Government grant.  In particular, TEP funding will help regional bodies to explore and develop opportunities for future funding from, for example, Regional Housing Boards and or other regional bodies.

Further information on individual national and regional bodies is given below:

National bodies

The Tenants and Residents Organisations of England (TAROE) has been working to develop an organisational model that will make TAROE the lead national tenants’ organisation in England. TAROE represents tenants from all sectors within social housing, and hopes in the future to also develop membership with private tenants. It has developed policies and procedures for governance, management, staffing and financial mechanisms. It has also developed a business plan and strategy for its development in relation to funding, communication, membership, marketing etc.

Further information is available at www.taroe.org and Tel: 01928 790000.

The National Federation of Tenant Management Organisations (NFTMO)
is a national voluntary membership organisation. Its main purpose is to facilitate networking and support for TMOs in England and to promote community control as an option within regeneration initiatives and in areas of greatest need.

The NFTMO was founded in 1992 and now has a membership of over 100 TMOs. It has an executive committee that includes 20 community representatives from all parts of the country. Full membership is open to established TMOs and those groups that are engaged in the Right to Manage process. Associate membership is open to any group with an interest in community controlled housing.

The NFTMO employs one part time paid co-ordinator but otherwise all of its work depends on voluntary effort. NFTMO:

• promotes and facilitates the exchange of experience and ideas between tenant management organisations and like-minded community initiatives
• identifies and shares examples of good practice and excellence – sometimes through good practice guides and publications
• provides a web-site at www.nftmo.com
• publishes and distributes 3,000 free copies of a quarterly magazine
• organises regional networking events and a national conference
• arranges one-day seminars and training events
• administers a TMO Benchmarking Network that enables TMOs to compare their own effectiveness with other communities and to learn from those who are getting better results
• administers a TMO Good Governance Kite Mark scheme

Further information about the organisation, including copies of the current training programmes, can be obtained from its website: www.nftmo.com.

The Confederation of Co-operative Housing (CCH) is the national representative body for housing co-operatives and other forms of community controlled housing organisation. Recognised as the Co-operative Movement's voice on housing issues, CCH is volunteer based with over 170 members, consisting of housing co-ops, TMOs, and other organisations that support community controlled housing.

As well as providing advice and support to housing co-ops (including a code of governance for co-ops and TMOs and a range of policy information), the CCH works in close partnership with TAROE and the NFTMOs to promote and support tenant involvement in decision-making in housing associations; it pioneered the Community Gateway model - a new model of large-scale housing organisation that places tenant and empowerment at its heart; and it works on innovative Community Land Trust models to provide wider community based solutions.  Details of CCH's work can be found on its website – www.cch.coop   The CCH also worked with the Housing Corporation to develop a guide for housing association tenants on setting up community activities (www.communitiestakingcontrol.org).

Regional bodies

The North West Tenants’ and Residents’ Assembly (NWTRA) was formed by a group of tenants from Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Cumbria, Lancashire and Cheshire who have worked together to drive forward the idea of developing a North West tenants’ and residents’ organisation that will play a key part in shaping and influencing decisions that are made at a regional level.

The NWTRA is a recognised body that is clear about the priorities affecting tenants and residents. It is a vocal and a key influence in helping to develop and shape regional policy and activities that affect housing and neighbourhoods in the region. It is concerned with accountability and making sure that the organisations that spend public money are setting the priorities that tenants and residents feel are important.

Further information about the organisation is available from Jimmy Devlin (Chairman), jamesdev31@hotmail.com, telephone 01744-634119.
 
The Forum of Regional Tenants of the South West (FORT SW) is a group of tenants and residents who have been nominated by their residents associations to represent them at County Fora, or where County Fora are not fully constructed, have been nominated to represent area organisations from the South West of England.
The Tenant Empowerment Programme provided funding to:

• start bringing together the Counties and Areas of the South West
• develop, coach and train key regional representatives.

This programme is being monitored by TPAS, who have undertaken the majority of the new development programme.

Regionally and nationally they aim to:

• deliver an advanced development programme for representatives 
• build a County network of representatives, bringing key issues to Regional Government 
• represent at Regional bodies 
• support each other, share ideas and good practice, give tenants a voice
• promote and protect the needs, aspirations and rights of tenants.

Further information about the organisation is available from
John Beaman,  FORT-SouthWest@tiscali.co.uk
Allen Daniels, TPAS S.W. Regional Manager
Tel. 01626 356690, e-mail; allen.daniels@tpas.org.uk
Keith Peacock, Secretary FORT South West
 e-mail: keith.pea@tiscali.co.uk  

The North East Council of Tenants and Residents (NECTAR) is an independent grouping of tenants and residents associations from around the North East of England.

The aim of NECTAR is “To raise the profile of tenants and residents in order that we become effective stakeholders in the future of our communities, locally, regionally and nationally.”

Membership of NECTAR is open to any group of tenants and residents working for the benefit of the community in Northumberland, Tyne & Wear, Co. Durham or Teesside. Currently there are approximately 180 tenants and resident groups in the membership of NECTAR, including Panels and Federations each with their own members. There are also 106 independent memberships comprising of Local Authorities and housing associations including tenant participation workers and other contacts.

The establishment of NECTAR has been supported by the North East Tenant Participation Officers’ Network and by BOW Community Projects, with funding from TEP and from BOWCP.

Further information about the organisation is available from: 01207 588550 or email nec.tar@lycos.co.uk

The Yorkshire and the Humber Tenant and Residents Federation (YHF), which was launched in 2002, has established itself as the recognised voice of tenants and residents in the region with a current membership of over 100 tenant groups. It enjoys representation on the Regional Housing Forum and has two representatives on the Regional Housing Board.  YHF holds regular open meetings focusing on key policy issues and publishes advice and guidance featuring good practice in tenant led initiatives. Its development has been supported by the agency Partners in Change.

YHF works closely with the two other northern tenant federations (covering the north east and the north west) on policy and representation. In 2005 the three federations ran a very successful conference on ‘Life after Stock Options’ with Tenant Empowerment Programme support.

Further information about the organisation is available from: www.yhf.org.uk