About Us
HOME Argyll (Housing Options Made Easy) is a partnership between Argyll Community Housing Association, Dunbritton Housing Association, Fyne Homes, West Highland Housing Association and Argyll and Bute Council.
Together, we are working to make it easier for people to apply for housing in Argyll and Bute, it is a partnership approach to housing in Argyll for:
- Improving services to clients
- Shared Administration & IT
- Common Allocation Policy & Procedures
- Single Application Form
- Single Health & Housing Need Assessment
- Consistency on Recognising Housing Need
- Housing Information & Advice
Background of HOME Argyll;
January 2003 - First partnership Meeting with Argyll & Bute Council, Argyll Community Housing Association, Dunbritton Housing Association, Fyne Homes and West Highland Housing Association.
April 2003 - Local Housing Strategy consultation meeting
November 2003 - Common Housing Register (CHR) Steering Group established between Argyll & Bute Council, Dunbritton Housing Association, Fyne Homes and West Highland Housing Association.
April 2004 - Scottish Executive Funding was granted.
June 2004 - ODS Consultants were appointed to carry out preliminary scoping exercise with the target to deliver a CHR by 2007 and linking to Local Housing Strategy Monitoring & Evaluation Framework.
July 2004 - Argyll Community Housing Association (Stock Transfer Association) joined.
February 2005 - ODS scooping study report and harmonisation group established to look at;
- Procedures
- Application Form
- Medicals
- Tenancy Reference
April 2005 - ODS report on harmonisation group leads to the Common Allocation Policy.
May 2005 - Argyll & Bute accepted onto Community Ownership Programme
August 2005 - ODS were appointed as 'Project Co-ordinator' which was crucial to our success!
3 Stakeholder events were held over 2005 / 2006
June 2006 - Tenant / application consultation on Allocation Policy and Common Forms
September 2006 - Equalities Impact Assessment
October 2006 - Common Housing Register went live
November 2006 - Stock transfer to Argyll Community Housing Association (ACHA)
HOME Argyll Model
- Common Allocation Policy & Procedures
- Application Form, Health & Housing Need Assessment
- Joint Procedures
- Housing Information & Advice
- Shared Data Base of Applicants
Whats Next for HOME Argyll?
September 2007 - Creation of HOME Argyll Forum = Monthly Meetings
October 2007 - Review day facilitated by ODS = Positives, Negatives & Changes
November 2007 - New Sub Group Structure = Staff, Committee & Elected Members, Operational Sub Group, Allocation Policy & Procedure Review, implement agreed action plan 2008/2009 and beyond
HOME Argyll has been a joint effort, it has taken time, effort and commitment, we now have a single application form which you can use to apply to any or all of the four housing associations. We also have a common allocation policy, which means that you will get the same level of priority for housing with all four associations.
HOME Argyll is the first common allocation policy in Scotland - an achievement which we are very proud of.
Stewart Maxwell, MSP, Minister for Communities & Sport visits HOME Argyll, September 2007.