Dear Friends
 
Please find below this e-mail a proposal for a housing mailing list. The
proposal has the same charter as the newsgroup uk.community.social-housing,
which I proposed and was able to get established in February 1996. So the need
for such a forum is established.
 
It is only now, after 4 months, that I realise that there may be an unmet need
from housing professional who wish to be kept informed but are unable to keep up
with postings in a newsgroup. Furthermore, a mailing list may prove far more
reliable than for example, the Compuserve news server, which is so bad it makes
it very difficult to follow a debate.
 
As far as I am aware there are no similar groups in existance or any with a
similar name.
 
I would, therfore, be gratful if you would accept sponsoring this mailing list.
 
I look forward to hearing from you, together with instructions on what I need to
do next and how I can get a set of standard commands which may be sent to the
mailing list.
 
Yours faithfully
 
Ray Everingham
London.
 
[PROPOSED MAILING LIST NAME]
UK-SOCIAL-HOUSING
 
[PROPOSED BY]
Ray Everingham 100345,[log in to unmask]
 
[SUMMARY OF THE CHARTER]
To share and develop good social housing policy & practice in the UK.
 
[RATIONALE]
The present government has set out it's vision for the next decade in it's white
paper 'Our
Future Homes' in which the overall objective is for a decent home to be within
the reach of
every family. However, with limited public investment in housing and the need to
provide
around 100,000 homes each year until 2011, there is an increased emphasis on
making the
most effective use of the homes that are available, as well as, providing new
homes that
offer value for money. This calls for both creativity and innovation.
 
Whilst many people involved in the housing sector read the various trade
magazines, what is
needed is a means by which individuals can debate issues, share best practice
and develop
fresh ideas, whilst not feeling restricted by our employers business or
political standpoints.
The forum can also be a place where people will make new friends and perhaps
even find
old ones.
 
[CHARTER]
This mailing list aims to provide a medium for the free exchange ideas and good
practice on
all aspects of social housing in the UK. Topics might include:
 
*       Responding to community housing needs and the strategic role of local
authorities,
 
*       Responding to change in the new social housing market.
 
*       Developing effective strategies for the development and management of
housing
        stock.
 
*       Promoting tenant participation and accountability.
 
*       Raising private finance, building public-private sector partnerships or
new accounting
        regulations.
 
*       Working with Government legislation, Housing Corporation and other
guidance.
 
*       Making best use of IT and housing management information systems.
 
 
[MODERATION]
Unmoderated.
 
[ADVERTISING POLICY]
Advertising will be permitted, but limited to adverts about job vacancies,
training days,
conferences, volunteers needed and tenants seeking mutual exchanges. Such
messages
should be clearly marked in the subject line to help those users who do not wish
to retrieve
these messages.
 
Announcements of relevant new services or products such as publications, new
research
etc. will be permitted, especially if they include the URL's of  World Wide Web
Pages, or
invitations to obtain details by e-mail. As a general rule, such announcements
should be no
more than 10 lines long and should be posted no more than once a month.
 
[BINARIES]
Users are asked not to post any binary files e.g. programmes and pictures. Users
wanting to
make them available to others should post a message to the newsgroup offering
them by e-
mail.
 
 
RAY EVERINGHAM
13th June 1996