The Strategic Housing Team has the responsibility to ensure the Council responds to Government|, Regional|, Sub regional and Local Priorities. To fulfil this role we are required to develop, drive and evaluate the success of housing strategies, co-ordinating the involvement of stakeholders and partners in the strategic process.
Internal and external relationships underpin successful strategies. Effective links within the Council include planning, private sector housing team, social services, regeneration, property services and neighbourhood management. External links are maintained with The Gateshead Housing Company|, other Tyne & Wear local housing authorities; The Northern Housing Consortium; Bridging NewcastleGateshead|; Housing Associations| and The Housing Corporation.
The strategic housing team contributes to the Council’s Vision of the Borough as a place for:
Local People who live in good quality, affordable homes, which meet their changing needs and are located within pleasant, safe and sustainable communities.
The council aims to deliver this by considering the key measures in the Government’s Agenda for housing in its policy statement ‘Quality and choice – A Decent Home For All’ |
In addition to being responsible for the development of affordable housing| policies within the Borough, the strategic housing team deals with a number of additional functions:-
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Management and monitoring of The Gateshead HousingCompany
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The Development of Policy and Housing Strategy
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Enabling role for Registered Social Landlord Developments
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Research into local housing needs, housing markets and conditions
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Linking with regional partners
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Supporting Housing Market Renewal
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Co ordination of the Single Housing Investment Pot funding
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Right To Buy Applications
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Performance monitoring
What Can I expect from the Strategic Housing Team ?
You can expect us to work with colleagues and all agencies with an interest in housing and related services. We will involve communities and together we will create a strategy to produce the best choice of housing environments for the residents and communities in the Borough. We have developed standards you can expect from our service. These standards were developed and agreed by members of the Housing Partnership Forum in July 2005:
Our Aims are to :
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Handle information requests promptly and respond to enquiries within 5 working days;
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Ensure that our service is professional, well trained and knowledgeable;
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Listen to stakeholder views; value their input and use them to improve or review services;
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Provide a clear and transparent service which is mindful of service and shared timescales and priorities;
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Provide an effective service that meets the needs of our customers and stakeholders;
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Consult customers and actively listen to and act upon their views regarding development opportunities affecting their homes;
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Actively seek out and develop good practice within service improvement encouraging an evolving service;
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To follow the Council’s Corporate Equality and Diversity Policy
We have mechanisms in place to promote improved verbal and written two- way communication with colleagues and stakeholders. To support this we produce regular service newsletters| to promote team contact information, service developments and the service vision.
If there are any terms or jargon used in this information or document provided which you do not understand please refer to the Tenant Participation Advisory Service ( TPAS ) Jargon Buster| which may provide further explanation.
What does the Housing Service expect from you?
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You can tell us about the problems you have with your current property and why it no longer meets your needs
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You can let us know what type of housing you would like to live in within Gateshead
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You can work with us to help develop our plans and policies by responding to and attending consultation events which may be organised by the Council; The Gateshead Housing Company; our appointed consultants or housing associations.
Your views are valuable to us and we ask that you provide feedback on any of our housing strategy documents, and you can give us your views of the service we deliver and provide us your comments on the feedback form|.