A key element in research and innovation projects is to spread the word. Innovation can only flourish if it is taken up widely, applied in a variety of situations and developed further.

Many Corporation research and innovation projects have produced final reports with recommendations for change, good practice guides or toolkits for performance management.

Conferences and seminars, held by the Corporation itself as well as others, have drawn together policy makers and practitioners to debate issues and come up with new ideas.

Begun in 1995, the programme initially centred on innovation and good practice (IGP) grants. Later, the community training and enabling theme was added to support organisations in developing resident involvement.

The Corporation is a government agency distributing £3.3 billion of capital grant during 2004-06, for the creation of 67,000 new homes. It has statutory and legal duties to regulate housing associations and promote equality and diversity. It also has a statutory ability to offer grants to facilitate the proper performance of housing associations.

The method identifies a number of good practice examples and resulting outcomes across a range of key topics:

It brings together:

It showcases work that has made life better for residents, and encourages housing associations to implement some of the best practice on offer.

Significant innovations, including new forms of tenure and financial models, improved data collection systems and better use of the planning system have been developed with the help of the Research and Innovation Programme.

Some of these are now entering the mainstream of the housing sector. Practical improvements have also resulted from the programme. IGP funding has allowed organisations to test out ideas, large and small, to determine how well they work and whether they can be applied more generally.

Community cohesion, regeneration, rural housing and support services are just some of the areas that have benefited from Corporation support.

Housing Corporation
enquiries@housingcorp.gsx.gov.uk

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/09/2006

Housing Corporation

research

Urban Policy > Economy knowledge & employment > Research & innovation

Implementation & production