EU funds for Housing Authority

The Housing Authority recently received funding through the Leonardo Da Vinci Programme to send members of its staff to the UK for a housing traineeship placement.

Six employees will be visiting four organisations dealing in care and repair and housing management to enhance knowledge and work-related skills in these areas and to get first-hand experience to improve the delivery of service and administration of these services.

Two placements will focus on care and repair; four staff members will visit Manchester Care and Repair, Rochdale Home Improvement Agency and Hanover At Home in Bury St Edmunds.

The 'Care and Repair' initiative was launched in 2002 to help the most vulnerable applicants, many of them elderly persons. It offers a personalised service and avoids bureaucracy.

Through this 'on the job' training, Housing Authority employees will gain the skills to manage change in care and repair.

Another placement will focus on housing management, a relatively new area of development within the Housing Authority, due to the amalgamation process with the Department of Social Housing. For this placement, two employees will be visiting Golden Gates Housing Ltd in Warrington.

Each placement includes a one-week intensive training programme.