The Meetings

From 19 July 2007 DSHG adopetd a new structure which is summarised below. We are currently finalising the Terms of Reference and we hope that these will be approved and adopted at the next DSHG Executive on 12 October.

The Annual Housing Forum

This is an annual meeting ususally in June/July. The first Forum was held on 19 July 2007 at Sandy Park in Exeter where we had over 70 delegates from Local Authorities, Housing Associations, Developers, Regional Agencies, the Housing Corporation and the Voluntray Sector. The Forum is repsonsible for setting the overall Vision and strategic priorities for the Group. DSHG will be appointing a Housing Champion for Devon in the near future so watch this website for details.

The Executive

The DSHG Executive meets 6 times a year. Two of those meetings are shared with elected members. The full partnership meetings tend to have a broader strategic overview of all the issues and will often invite presentations on emerging issues from other partner agencies and organisations.

The Devon Rural Housing Partnership

This meets quarterly ususally at Signpost Housing Association offices at Sowton. It is chaired by Ann Harries of Hastoe Housing and has responsibility for the work of the Rural Housing Enablers who are employed by the Community Council of Devon on behalf of the partnership. The Rural Housing Enablers work with rural communities to help them identify housingC solutions, acting as an indpendant 'honest broker'.

The Steering Group

The Steeing Group is the hub of the partnership. They have responsibility for supporting the 2 Co-ordinators, overseeing the DSHG work programme and ensuring that the champions communicate with the partnership. More detailed terms of reference can be downloaded here. The role of the Steering Group is currently under review

The Delivery Groups

Much of the work of the partnership is carried out through a range of delivery groups and task and finish groups. This includes:

The Devon Homelessness Managers Group

The Affordable Housing Task Group

This group is also under review and the new group will take forward the recommended work priorities identified by the Affordable Housing Master Class Delegates and DSHg Executive.

The Rural Housing Partnership (see above)

DSHG is also strengthening its links with other important Housing related groups and partnerships such as Devon Planning Officers Group and the Environmental Health Officers Group.

Champions

The strategic, enabling role of the Local Authorities is very broad and members of the DSHG are tasked with 'Championing' different areas of interest. More information about this can be found in the Membership section