The delegates have their say at CIH summit

At this year's Chartered Institute of Housing conference in Harrogate, one of the big stories was that England's housing and regeneration quango the Homes & Communities Agency will become a smaller and more strategic body.

Housing and regeneration minister Grant Shapps, who headlines our own National Regeneration Summit on 14 July, also told delegates that housing regulator the Tenant Services Authority would be abolished. The TSA’s financial regulation responsibilities are to be handed to the HCA “or another body”, Shapps said.

Our reporter Ben Cook was prowling the corridors of the conference to get the views from the most senior delegates on the above developments.

Here's what they told him:

On the move to scrap the TSA, Tenant Participation Advisory Service chief executive Michelle Reid said: "The TSA regulatory framework was produced by tenants and providers. It would be diabolical if that framework was thrown away. Tenants want the framework to survive. I don't know what will happen to National Tenant Voice - NTV has a vital role to play in increasing the negotiating power of tenants. Tenants won't accept a decrease in the powers they fought for. My hope is the framework will survive."

Chief executive Brian Johnson of South-East housing association Moat Housing said: "The TSA regulatory framework is a huge step forward and I understand Grant Shapps is impressed with the regulatory framework. There is also a growing realisation among social landlords of the benefits of the regulatory framework.

On the possibility of some TSA functions merging with the HCA, Nottingham Community Housing Association chief executive Mike Andrews said: "The sector's got to be regulated so from a practitioners point of view, we'll live with what we've given. I think there's a conflict though with the funder being the regulator. But, in that sense, we're just going back three years to when the Housing Corporation was the funder and the regulator."

On the announcement earlier this month that the ring-fence will be removed from Housing Market Renewal funding, Andrews said: "The danger of removing the ring-fence is that the money will be spent on something it's not meant to be spent on. But there will be pressure on local authorities from the market - properties deteriorating, waiting lists growing - we will find a way of doing things cheaper."

CIH conference: Housing professionals value early intervention scheme

Housing professionals want intensive family support projects protected from cuts, reports Ben Cook

One message to emerge from this week’s Chartered Institute of Housing conference in Harrogate is that if the coalition government is as serious as it claims it is about cutting costs, it should ensure that Family Intervention Projects are properly funded.

FIPs are intensive programmes aimed at helping families guilty of persistent antisocial behaviour. They see practitioners help troubled families with the whole gamut of household tasks, ranging from helping to get the kids to school to giving parents tips about how to manage the household budget.

As delegates who attended a session on FIPs at the Chartered Institute of Housing conference were reminded, FIPs - of which former Prime Minister Gordon Brown was a staunch supporter - have been a success.

And one of the main ways in which they have been successful is saving money.

FIPs reduce legal costs because they reduce the likelihood of having to take an antisocial family to court. They reduce management and maintenance costs because they have been successful in stopping antisocial tenants from trashing their homes.

The CIH conference heard this week that in some cases, social landlords have saved more in seven months after implementing an FIP than the actual cost of running the FIP.

One FIP was successful in saving a children's social services department £189,000. The costs associated with a FIP are relatively minor in comparison - the total costs are put at £8,000 to £20,000.

So, if George Osborne is intent on slashing public spending, he could do a lot worse that ensuring FIPs across the country are given the funding they need to tackle problem families.

POSTED BY BEN COOK

Have your say: Was Shapps right to 'shine a light' on housing bosses' pay

Earlier this week, new housing minister Grant Shapps published a list of some 50 housing association bosses paid more than Prime Minister David Cameron, and urged them to commit to the same pay transparency as other senior executives whose salaries are paid for by the public purse. His announcement followed the new Government's decision to reveal the names of 172 civil servants earning more than the PM.

Shapps' figures, which relate to last year, showed the highest-paid housing association boss was former Anchor chief executive John Belcher. According to the figures, Belcher, who left Anchor in November, was on a package worth £391,000. David Cowans, at Places for People, earned £297,000, the list said, while at least six bosses - including Affinity Sutton's Keith Exford, Mark Rogers at Circle Anglia and David Montague at London & Quadrant - earned in excess of £200,000.

Shapps said: "This government will champion a new era of transparency by shining a bright light on how hard earned taxpayers' cash is being spent. I can see no reason why housing charities who themselves receive public funds should be exempt from this important process."

We'd like to hear your thoughts on the new housing minister's decision to name the sector's big earners. Will the move put Shapps at loggerheads with the sector? Are the housing bosses worth the money they are paid?

Let us know your thoughts by commenting below.

New broom: All change at DCLG

Jamie Carpenter examines what the new ministerial appointments at the DCLG indicate about the department’s future direction

After all the excitement of earlier this week the dust is beginning to settle and many ministers are now in post. New communities secretary Eric Pickles has been joined at the Department for Communities and Local Government by Grant Shapps and Greg Clark, the department has confirmed. Shapps is the new housing minister, while Clark is reported to have taken on a “decentralisation” role. Further ministerial appointments are expected to follow today.

So what do the new appointments indicate about the likely future direction and priorities of the DCLG? Firstly, I’d suggest that the appointments of Pickles and Shapps send out a message that the coalition government intends to deliver on the pledges set out in the Conservative Party’s recent planning green paper (which are close to localism plans outlined in the Lib Dem manifesto). Many of the policies outlined by Pickles when he was shadow communities secretary between 2007 and 2009 – such as abolishing regional spatial strategies - appeared in the planning green paper and the Tory election manifesto. One of Pickles’ first tasks will be to lead a review into local government finance, a measure secured by the Liberal Democrats during the coalition negotiations.

The appointment of Clark as “decentralisation” minister suggests that localism is a policy area that the new coalition government takes very seriously. Clark, who was shadow energy and climate change secretary when the Tories were in opposition, is seen as a rising star in the Conservative Party. Speaking to kentnews.co.uk following his appointment, Clark said: "It’s all encompassing and about the transfer of power from central government to the people. I’m very excited about it.”

Reacting to his appointment as housing minister on his Twitter page, Shapps said: “Having shadowed four housing ministers in a row it's an honour to finally be the minister of state for housing.” He has already been asked by Pickles to “take a fresh look” at existing government schemes to help homeowners struggling to meet their mortgage payments. However, questions have already been raised as to whether housing is as high a priority for the new coalition government as it was for the Labour administration. Former housing minister John Healey attended Cabinet. Shapps is not listed among the ministers in the new Government that attend Cabinet, so it looks unlikely that he will do the same.