Mutual milestone for RBH

Moira Richardson (RBH Governance Manager), Tim Byrne (Tenant Board Member), Neil Duxbury (RBH engineer), Philomena Renshaw (RBH Tenant Board Member) and Gareth Swarbrick (RBH Chief Executive).

Rochdale Council’s arm’s-length management organisation, Rochdale Boroughwide Housing, has been given the green light to commence formal consultation with its tenants on proposals to transfer its 13,700 housing stock to a new mutual.

If the transfer goes ahead RBH would become the first social housing organisation in the UK to become a mutual - with both tenants and employees as members.

Gareth Swarbrick is Chief Executive of RBH, said: “We have been working with the Council on this for the past year.

“We are really pleased that we now have the green light from the Council for formal tenant consultation on the transfer to begin, and to take a further step forward in the creation of our new and unique mutual organisation.”

He added: “If transfer goes ahead RBH would become the largest mutual housing organisation in the country and we are very aware that many other organisations, particularly in the housing sector will be watching developments in Rochdale with great interest. We have learnt much from the existing tenant owned transfer organisations in England (Community Gateways) and Wales (Community Mutuals). We are seeking to go a stage further by offering employees the opportunity to become members as well.”

RBH’s vision is to use its new mutual ownership structure as a catalyst for a new way of working in which tenants and employees work together to shape the organisation’s response to future challenges. Under its proposals, tenants and employees could choose to become members of the organisation from the date of transfer with the full new mutual decision-making structures being put in place over the 15 months following this - as the membership base grows.

RBH has been advised throughout the process by Mutuo. Since 2001, Mutuo has worked to promote new mutuals. This has led to renewed growth in the mutual sector, with public sector mutuals established in health, housing and education and new community based businesses ranging from football to childcare.

Mutuo Chief Executive Peter Hunt commented: “RBH has chosen to blend together the best features of tenant and employee engagement to create a unique and progressive way of delivering high quality social housing services. The work carried out at Rochdale will be of major significance to local authorities that are seeking new ways to co-produce their services with communities and staff.”

RBH and the Council have also worked closely with the Homes & Communities Agency (HCA) to take forward the mutual transfer plans. Deborah McLaughlin executive director North West said: “This looks to be a great opportunity for Rochdale that will give residents further direct involvement in making local housing decisions which will help shape their neighbourhoods and services”

The new Rochdale pioneers are confident that their model could signal a different way to do business for the social housing sector.

Mr Swarbrick, concluded: “The shift in the political and financial landscape within our sector has brought a whole new set of challenges. To face up to these and find solutions that work for local communities we need the active involvement of both tenants and employees. This is what our model is all about.”

A spokesperson for Rochdale Borough Council said:“The council has only just commenced the process of consulting its tenants and will, in the light of this, consider its next steps in due course.”