Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR)
The SHR was introduced in 2011 to “safeguard and promote the interests of current and future tenants of social landlords, people who are or may become homeless and people who use housing services provided by registered social landlords (RSLs) and local authorities”.
They are responsible for the administration of the SSHC and carry out thematic inspections in areas of performance which show signs of difficulties or that are challenging landlords. They also scrutinise performance of landlords and inspect landlords whose performance is causing concern.
Transforming Angus Programme
All of our business activities are focused on achieving better outcomes for the people and communities of Angus. To be able to do that we are changing how we conduct our business.
We have stated that by 2020, the council will be better, stronger, more sustainable and smaller and this means that we are all now engaged in change programmes which touch every aspect of our business.
Scottish Government's Digital Transformation Policy and the digital participation strategy
These are documents outlining Scotland’s full potential in a digital world. (Scottish Government, 2014) This policy is committed to delivering digital public services that meet the needs of the public.
Equality
Is about being fair – sometimes this means providing extra help to those who need it the most, to give people who are vulnerable or do not have a voice, the opportunity to have their views heard.
Service Review
A group of tenant volunteers identifies an area of service that they wish to review, they work alongside housing staff to examine the service, identify strengths and recommend areas for improvement. The group set out and agree a code of conduct, a method of how they will carry out the review and who they require to talk to.
Once the review is completed, a report highlighting the strengths of the service and any recommendations for improvements will be sent to our Housing Management Team and committee, if required, for approval.
Tenants and Residents Groups including Registered tenant Organisations (RTOs)
A tenants and residents group is a community group representing tenants and residents within a defined area.
Groups can become more formal by registering with the council and becoming a Registered Tenant’s Organisation (RTO).
Neighbourhood Walkabout
This consists of a tour around the local neighbourhood, identifying any issues, and working together to create an action plan for solutions.
The Housing (Scotland) Act 2001
Gives tenants legal rights in relation to tenant participation and places a duty on Local Authorities and Registered Social Landlords to consult with tenants and service users on wide range of housing issues.
The Housing (Scotland) Act 2010
Established the Scottish Social Housing Charter and created the independent Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR) who introduced a new regime of inspecting and regulating Scotland’s social housing providers to look after the interests of tenants and other housing service users. The Act also created a requirement for greater tenant scrutiny of social landlords’ performance.
Charrette
This refers to a collaborative session between all stakeholders, (ie council officers, tenants, residents, local businesses) to design and plan a solution to a problem in an area eg empty shops within town centre, new housing, regeneration of an area etc. These happen over a period of time and serve as a quick way of generating a solution to a problem, taking into consideration all views at a local level.