Mansford Estate Steering Group

HOUSING CHOICE PRE-BALLOT CONSULTATION

INTRODUCTION & GOVERNANCE

Thursday 22nd July 2004

WHO´S WHO AT THCH

THE BOARD

The THCH Board comprises six resident directors, six independent directors and six Council Representatives.

The Residents are:

Alan Stern of Java Court

The Independents are:

Vacancy

The Council Representatives are:

Cllr Manir Uddin Ahmed of Shadwell Ward

Cllr Richard & Wapping Ward

Cllr of Bethnal Green South Ward

Cllr Akikor Rahman of Bethnal Green South Ward

Cllr James Sanderson of Bethnal Green North Ward

Vacancy

At the Board awayday last year we agreed to ask the Council to reduce the number of councillors on the Board to four, to allow for the Leaseholder steering Group to elect two more leaseholders to the Board. This proposal is being dealt with by the Council at present.

The current Chair of the Board is who is a tenant from the Minerva Estate whom the ESG met at the last meeting.

THE OFFICERS

THCH is led by the Chief Executive, Mike Tyrrell and his Senior Management Team consisting of three Directors, as follows:

All the Senior Management Team are based at THCH´s Headquarters at 16 Deancross Street, Shadwell, alongside all the staff working on Housing Choice. THCH will be moving to a new headquarters at 279-301 Commercial Road, Stepney, E1 in about 18 months time.

THCH´s local staff managing all our stock in Bethnal Green, are based at:

Bethnal Green Community Housing Office

10 Minerva Street, Bethnal Green, E2 9EH

The manager of the office is Mrs , and she is assisted by Mrs Glorin Crawford along with a team of Housing Officers, Cleaners, Concierges and a Handyperson. The Office currently provides the following services:

For Housing Choice, the Mansford Estate Steering Group will be served by a team of 5 THCH staff as follows:

HOW DOES THCH OPERATE?

THCH is a Registered Social Landlord (Housing Association), a Company limited by Guarantee and a Registered Charity. It is governed by the Board that meets on a quarterly basis on the first Thursdays of March, June, September and December. The September meeting each year is always followed by the Annual General Meeting.

Most of the main work however is done by the four THCH Committees which also meet quarterly, and our five main consultative bodies.

The four THCH Committees are:

Tower Hamlets Community Housing believes residents should have a full say in how their homes and communities are managed and communities supported. It has been proven that effective resident participation leads to better, more responsive and efficient management. Effective participation provides residents with an opportunity to voice their concerns and express their views in order to shape the organisations vision and services. Residents are, and must be acknowledged as, an integral part of the management process. THCH will facilitate and enable residents to express their concerns and aspirations if it is to empower residents individually and estates and communities collectively.

The five THCH consultative bodies are:

All THCH meetings are advertised in our monthly magazine "Update" and they are open to all residents.

THCH has well established Area Residents Boards in each of its three community area alongside the Leaseholders Steering Group which covers leaseholder across the whole organisation. THCH believes that organised residents can have a greater influence than those acting individually. We will help to establish new ARB´s and continue to support existing ARB´s as the principle consultative body for THCH in each of the community areas.

THCH also supports a Joint Area Residents Board (JARB). The JARB enables residents to meet from all 3 areas to discuss matters that affect THCH as a whole. The JARB will also be able to ask questions of the Chief Executive and Senior Management Team at a meeting to be held 17 days before the board meeting to allow the comments of the JARB to be taken into account.

WHAT ABOUT A RMO?

As an alternative to THCH managing your home, the Estate Steering Group could consider setting up a Resident Management organisation (RMO). What is RMO? No one RMO is the same.

Basically a RMO is an organisation run by the residents to manage an estate. However what is managed is very flexible and whereas some RMOs want to manage all aspects of an Estate, most however choose to manage just a few areas of housing management. A local example is Bancroft TMO who manage cleaning, repairs and tenancy management, whereas the Council retain management of major refurbishment, lettings, rents, service charges, and right to Buy. Normally RMOs have been set up in response to poor repairs and cleaning services by local councils.

THCH would work with you on any RMO proposal however, we would warn you that the level of resident commitment and time, is much higher then involvement as an active residents in THCH´s resident participation structures.

Thursday 22nd July 2004

THE BOARD

The THCH Board comprises six resident directors, six independent directors and six Council Representatives.

The Residents are:

The Independents are:

• Vacancy

The Council Representatives are:

• Cllr Manir Uddin Ahmed of Shadwell Ward
• Cllr Richard Brooks of St Katharines & Wapping Ward
• Cllr Sirajul Islam of Bethnal Green South Ward
• Cllr Akikor Rahman of Bethnal Green South Ward
• Cllr James Sanderson of Bethnal Green North Ward
• Vacancy

At the Board awayday last year we agreed to ask the Council to reduce the number of councillors on the Board to four, to allow for the Leaseholder steering Group to elect two more leaseholders to the Board. This proposal is being dealt with by the Council at present.

The current Chair of the Board is Anne Ambrose who is a tenant from the Minerva Estate whom the ESG met at the last meeting.

THE OFFICERS

THCH is led by the Chief Executive, Mike Tyrrell and his Senior Management Team consisting of three Directors, as follows:

Local Office

Bethnal Green Community Housing Office

10 Minerva Street, Bethnal Green, London E2 9EH

The manager of the office is Mrs Elaine De Diego, and she is assisted by Mrs Glorin Crawford along with a team of Housing Officers, Cleaners, Concierges and a Handyperson.

The Office currently provides the following services:

• Lettings
• Neighbour nuisance
• Anti-social Behaviour
• Rents
• Parking
• Right to Buy
• Estate Cleaning
• Repairs
• Service Charges
• Dumped Rubbish

Housing Choice

For Housing Choice, the Mansford Estate Steering Group will be served by a team of 5 THCH staff as follows: