Governance

The Association is controlled by the communities it serves. The Management Committee sets the overall strategic direction of the Association and takes all the key decisions with regard to the Association.

The Management Committee is supported by the SFARS Board, Audit Committee and Staffing and General Purposes sub-committee which constitute the three sub-committees of our main Management Committee and complete our governance structure

All of our committees, sub-committees and boards are largely composed of local residents and service users who work to ensure that the Association is accountable and delivers services appropriate to the needs of our local communities.

Management Committee

Our Management Committee acts as our governing body and is responsible for setting our aims and objectives and monitoring our progress in achieving them. Management Committee members meet once a month, ten times a year to:

Set short and long terms objectives for the Association
Discuss the overall operation of the Association in its use of resources, achievement of aims and objectives, financial viability and service delivery for tenants and service users
Ensure that the Association meets its legal and regulatory obligations.

Our Management Committee:

Office Bearers

Chair: Alex Cameron

Year of joining the Management Committee : 2017

Vice-Chair: Margaret McIntyre

Year of joining the Management Committee : 2006

Secretary: Jonah Chireka

Year of joining the Management Committee : 2017

Members

Betty MacNeil

Year of joining the Management Committee : 1994

Iain Dyer

Year of joining the Management Committee : 2002

Surjit Singh Chowdhary

Year of joining the Management Committee : 2011

Munir Choudry

Year of joining the Management Committee : 2018

Alison Devlin

Year of joining the Management Committee : 2019

Ruth McCluskey

Year of joining the Management Committee : 2019

Shirley Robison

Year of joining the Management Committee : 2021

Liz Ely

Year of joining the Management Committee : 2022

Elisa Campanaro

Year of joining the Management Committee : 2022

Management Committee Meetings & Minutes

November 2022 MC Minutes

October 2022 MC Minutes

September 2022 MC Minutes

July 2022 MC Minutes

June 2022 – MC Minutes

May 22 MC Minutes

April 2022 MC Minutes

March 2022 MC Minutes

February 2022 Minutes

January 2022 MC Minutes

November 2021 MC Minutes

October 2021 Minutes

September 2021 Minutes

August 2021 Extra Meeting – Minutes

February 2021 Minutes

January 2021 Minutes

November 2020 Minutes

October 2020 Minutes

September 2020 Minutes

February 2020 Minutes

January 2020 Minutes

November 2019 Minutes

October 2019 Minutes

September 2019 Minutes

SFARS Board

In 2005 the association established Southside Factoring and Related Services (SFARS), a wholly owned subsidiary, in order to deliver commercial activities which could not be provided by the Association as the charitable parent company.

SFARS main focus is on providing a property factor services, it has grown and developed and now incorporates two entities Southside Residential and Southside Letting which together provide the following commercial activities:

Board Members:

Ruth McLuskey – Chair

Elisa Campanero

Jonah Chireka

Iain Dyer

Michael Davie

Lucy Gillie

Governance Documents

The Association is run according to our constitution and rules of association, here are some of our key governance documents:

The Association is made up of a shareholding membership who have voting rights at the Association’s Annual General Meeting, elect members to our Membership Committee and other rights in relation to the way the Association is managed. The Association encourages local residents and anyone else who shares the Association’s objectives to become a member. It’s a great way to ensure that you have a say and a stake in how we operate as a social landlord.

How to become a member of Southside Housing Association.

You can apply to become a member of the Association making a one off payment of £1.00. Anyone who lives in the areas which we operate in, or who shares the Association’s objectives set out in our Rules may apply to become a member. We want to promote as diverse a membership as possible and welcome applications from people from all backgrounds irrespective of their ethnicity, race, religious belief, sexual orientation or gender identity, or disability.

How We Are Regulated

As a registered social landlord, charity and company, the Association’s functions are closely regulated in a number of ways.

The Scottish Housing Regulator

Registered Social Landlords in Scotland are regulated by the Scottish Housing Regulator (SHR). The SHR aims to safeguard and promote the interests of current and future tenants of social landlords and other people who use our services. The SHR closely assess the Association and other social landlords based on:

How we are performing in delivering our housing services
Our financial viability and well being, and;
How we are meeting the SHR’s standards of governance and financial management

The Scottish Housing Regulator has published a helpful guide ‘how we regulate: a guide for tenants and service users .’

The Association has a statutory duty to provide certain information to the SHR throughout the year, key documents which the SHR publish in relation to the Association can be found on the SHR website.

The Association has a Complaints Handling Procedure which you can use when you are dissatisfied with an aspect of how we have delivered our services, or how that may have affected you.

When things go wrong that have a serious and adverse impact on a significant number of people, you can report these issues as a significant performance failure to the SHR who will investigate and take appropriate action to address your concerns.

The Care Inspectorate

The Care Inspectorate regulates cares services in Scotland. They support improvement in care services and work to ensure that quality of care in Scotland meets high standards.

The Association’s Saffron Project, which provides accommodation and a floating support service for young people from a Black and Minority Ethnic background is regulated by the Care Inspectorate. Each year The Association has to provide an annual return to the Care Inspectorate. The Care Inspectorate also carry out periodic inspections of the Saffron Project. Here is a copy of the most recent Care Inspectorate inspection report:

Care Inspectorate – Saffron Project Inspection Report May 2019

Scottish Social Service Council

Our Saffron Project staff are also registered with the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC), who are the body who regulate workers in care and social services in Scotland.

Find out more about how the SSSC regulate at: https://www.sssc.uk.com/

Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator

As a registered charity in Scotland, we are regulated by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) who monitor our compliance with our obligations in line with the provisions set out in the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005. The Association provides an annual return to OSCR every December.

Financial Conduct Authority

The Association must also register with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), and changes to Association Rules for example can only proceed with the consent of the FCA. We must also provide financial information annually to the FCA, you can find details of the Association’s annual returns below.

https://mutuals.fca.org.uk/Search/Society/13782