Regional Housing Conference asks “Are Our Communities Fit For Purpose?”
A hard-hitting social conference took place in Manchester today on November 16 at the City of Manchester Stadium.
Harvest Housing Group’s Annual Seminar was hosted and chaired by multi award winning GMTV presenter, John Stapleton. The event, which was sponsored by Eversheds, Stephen Davies Associates and Rok Durose + Gourlay was attended by Local Authority members and officers, housing associations, Mayors and Mayoress’, property developers, contractors, professionals and government agency officials from across the North West.
The topic of the conference, which had been decided three months in advance, “Communities, fit for purpose?” could not have been better timed for debate following strong words in the national media from Home Secretary John Reid and on the back of the Queen’s speech.
Sensitive areas discussed included Crime and the Role of Media, Drugs, Child Poverty, Religion & Faith Groups, Life Skills, Equality & Diversity and older people.
The panellists in this question time styled debate included: Terrie Alafat, the government’s Director of Housing Support & Strategy; Jim Bennett
from the Institute of Public Policy Research; Steve Rumbelow, Chief Executive of Burnley Borough Council; Geoff Thompson, Executive Chair and founder of Youth Charter for Sports, Culture & the Arts; Sergeant Mark Wear of Cumbria Constabulary and the Respect Task Force; Ian Perry, Chief Executive of Harvest Housing Group, put across their individual positions regarding communities and the challenges and opportunities they face each day.
Terrie Alafat was quick to defend the comments of John Reid regarding the eviction of troublesome families from their homes. She said,
“This is very much a last resort, it’s not the first thing that should be done.”
And Geoff Thompson added,
“It is not just about relocating the problem.”
Panellists agreed that greater communication and real engagement with young people is required, ‘debate not dictate’ was the clear message.
The individual guests from local government housing and social agencies made their voices very clear on government policies and voiced the frustration to the conference host John Stapleton that the great community work that is going on across the North West just doesn’t make the news.
Chief executive for Burnley Council Steve Rumbelow said,
“Tony Blair is on the right side of the argument on this occasion.”
As the debate focused on the respect agenda, Mark Wear of the Respect Task Force in Cumbria was keen to point out that more could be done if the police were allowed to engage more with the community rather than focus on administrative targets.
As the only person representing government, Terrie Alafat was asked to take back to Ruth Kelly a number of suggestions, these included:
§ Let the police deal with the issues and engage more with the community, take the emphasis off targeting
§ Communicate with the youth, don’t just consult
§ Stop headline grabbing and the war of words. Trust the housing agencies to work for you.
Commenting on his return to Manchester and his beloved Manchester City, GMTV’s John Stapleton brought the conference to a close by saying,
“This was a fascinating insight into the problems our communities and the people at the sharp end face. We in the media flip in and flip out of these debates, our guests made their points very clear.”
Terrie Alafat was keen to stress that the event was very useful, she said
“Focusing on communities and the challenges they face are very much on my departments agenda.”
Harvest Housing Group’s Chief Executive, Ian Perry was delighted that once again the annual seminar brought like minded people together with clear aims and objectives. He commented,
“This was a prime opportunity for experts to debate with an informed audience the issues that effect peoples lives every day.”
A Full briefing of the Harvest Housing Group Annual Seminar can be made available by contacting Chris Bird on 0161 839 4846. A audio or transcript of the event will also be available on request.