ALMO
The ALMO Debate
Just when you thought it was safe to re-enter the murky waters of Council Housing..............THE ALMO!!
Is the ALMO privitisation by the back door spelling disaster for Leaseholders?
The latest dodgy model, neither fish nor fowl, imposed on residents against their will?
Or the only way to bring in vital investment and give leastholders a real voice?
Councillors are divided on the ALMO. Tell us what you think!
Phone in your views 020 7791 2165 . . . . email your views thlaleaseholders@btinternet.com
"Tower Hamlets Homes ALMO" a statement by Cllr Marc Francis, Labour (Bow East)
In just a few short weeks from now, a new Arms Length Management Organisation, Tower Hamlets Homes, will take over responsibility for the day-to-day management of all the council’s remaining estates. This move represents the last chance to bring council housing up to the Decent Homes Standard. Labour councillors are determined to ensure it succeeds.
Labour’s political opponents have tried to strangle the ALMO at birth. George Galloway’s Respect Party extremists in particular, have tried to smear the ALMO as privatisation, when it clearly is nothing of the sort. Unlike stock transfer to a housing association, under an ALMO, ownership of the blocks and open space stays with the council.
In some parts of Tower Hamlets, leaseholders have been the strongest supporters in favour of transferring their estates to a housing association. But it is also true that, other leaseholders have been amongst those most opposed. It is understandable if leaseholders also have worries about the new ALMO. But those fears are misplaced. In fact, the ALMO is the chance to achieve what council leaseholders have always wanted – value for money.
The creation of Tower Hamlets Homes, does not just give us a chance of securing the hundreds of millions of pounds needed to give tenants the warm, safe and modern homes they deserve. It demands a dramatic and sustained improvement in the quality of housing management and administration.
That is because the ALMO will only get the money it needs for refurbishing tenants’ flats if it proves itself to be an effective and efficient service. Next year, the independent Audit Commission will inspect Tower Hamlets Homes from top to bottom. And only if it achieves two out of three stars will Ministers release the extra funding.
Everyone knows that the council’s Housing Services fall short of this benchmark at the moment. And the quality of service to leaseholders is especially poor. Things simply cannot be allowed to carry on like this if Tower Hamlets Homes is to get a two-star rating.
From what I have seen, this focus on improving performance and value for money is already beginning to bear fruit. There is a dramatic shake-up in the structure of the service, and a growing understanding of why the service has been so weak. Of course, this does not guarantee a better service in future. But I am confident that the building blocks are in place to deliver a service to leaseholders that is both more transparent and more accountable.
An example of where this is already delivering some results is the forthcoming £50 rebate to leaseholders on their 2006/07 service charges. Labour councillors investigated THLA’s complaints about the admin charge, discovered that the increase had led to a big surplus on the council’s Housing Revenue Account, accepted that the quality of admin had not been good enough and decided to give leaseholders back a £50 rebate.
Of course, this one flower does not make the spring. But we are trying, step by step, to deal with other longstanding disputes too, in preparation for the ALMO. Two leaseholders have also been appointed to the Shadow Board of Tower Hamlets Homes to ensure that leaseholders’ views are taken into account in every decision the ALMO makes.
I know that leaseholders are often the most consistent and effective champions of their communities. That’s why I hope that you will ignore the scare stories of Labour’s political opponents and engage constructively with Tower Hamlets Homes to help drive up its performance. With your active support, I am sure we can improve value for money for leaseholders and deliver the improvements East End estates desperately need.
"Tower Hamlets Homes" ALMO a statement by Cllr Tim Archer, Conservative (Blackwall and Cubitt Town)
ALMOs and Leaseholders: a Conservative Perspective
The formation of the Tower Hamlets ALMO, Tower Hamlets Homes, has been controversial. Not least because its formation was very much a knee-jerk reaction to a number of estates in the borough voting against stock-transfer.
Unfortunately Tower Hamlets did not have a ‘plan B’ or any other kind of contingency up its sleeve when local residents on some estates decided not to transfer to a Residential Social Landlord. And so it’s rushed into what it claims is the only remaining option – setting up an ALMO.
There is no doubt that after years of mis-management by the Council many of our local estates are in bad need of repair and investment. Something needs to be done and the requirement to meet the 2010 Decent Homes Standards, means that hundreds of millions need to be spent on our estates. Put simply the Council does not have the money to do it.
But the ALMO does not guarantee that the Council will have any extra cash to spend on our estates. If the ALMO is successful, then it will receive an extra £190m of Central Government funding. To be successful it needs to be audited by the Audit Commission and be awarded two stars. If it gets the two stars it will get the extra money, if not then it won’t.
Interestingly Hackney Homes, the ALMO set-up by our neighbouring borough in 2006 was audited last year and has reached just one star. Hackney Homes is facing all kinds of difficulties and it looks like it will not receive the money it needs. So firstly the ALMO may not result in the money required for our estates. It’s a long shot.
My biggest concern with the ALMO is the way it’s been set-up. Rather than let residents (tenants and leaseholders) vote on whether they want to be run by an ALMO or not, the Council has opted to survey just a few residents and base its decision on that. The surveys were conducted over the phone and with some face to face interviews and the Council claim the overall result is that there is broad support for an ALMO. A survey is no substitute for democracy. The setting up of an ALMO was not in the Labour party’s manifesto at the last local elections in 2006 – nobody has voted for an ALMO in Tower Hamlets. That’s not democratic and it’s not right.
Some 20,000 properties will transfer to the ALMO, and of these some 9,000 will be leasehold. Leaseholders will make up some 45% of the ALMO.
Of all the people who were surveyed, only 25% were leaseholders – despite that fact that some 45% of the residents of the estates that will go into the ALMO are leaseholders. Yet again this is a case of leaseholders having a lot at stake in what happens to their estates but not being given a fair say in what happens.
As a local councillor I deal with queries and concerns from Leaseholders on a daily basis, and many leaseholders in my ward have been transferred as a result of Housing Choice to a Residential Social Landlord. Unfortunately I have to report that an increasing number of leaseholders are telling me that it was a case of ‘better the devil you know’ with the Council and that they find their RSLs distant and far from co-operative. The ALMO will be owned by the Council, and it will be run by mostly former council staff, but it will be separate. I worry about how accountable the ALMO will be. Ultimately when something is run by the council, the residents can vote the Councillors back in or out depending on performance. With the ALMO it’s not so clear-cut and I believe not as accountable to local residents be they leaseholders or tenants.
It is also yet to be established just what relationship the ALMO will want to form with its leaseholders – it will be more reliant than ever on leaseholders for its income but yet its purpose will be to spend money on the Council tenants. Clear accountability to leaseholders needs to be put in place and leaseholders, through a body like THLA need to ensure they get the ability to shape the direction of the ALMO and that their voices are heard. You will certainly have the support of your Conservative Councillors in making that happen.
Finally, I believe that what leaseholders want is clear and transparent service charges that represent good value for money. My fear is that the ALMO will do nothing to make that a reality and in the short-term if not longer the situation may get worse – this is a brand new company that is being set-up, but yet from day 1 it’s got to run 20,000 properties. The Council has been running estates for years, but still can’t give fair and clear bills and guarantee value for money. Can the ALMO? If it does then we can all celebrate, but I’m not sure that’s at the top of its list of priorities, so leaseholders you may have to make sure it becomes one of its priorities and again you will have the support of your Conservative Councillors in making that happen!
Cllr Tim Archer
Conservative Councillor for Blackwall & Cubitt Town
Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Poplar and Limehouse.
"Tower Hamlets Homes" ALMO a statement by Cllr Oliur Rahman
Leader of RESPECT – The Unity Coalition
Member for St Dunstan's and Stepney Green Ward
Tower Hamlets needs decent, affordable, secure housing, with a landlord that can be held to account. With overcrowding the worst in Britain, with our children not able to afford a home of their own, with financial insecurity and repossessions already rising, we need council housing now more than ever.
Tenants and leaseholders have fought to defend and improve our council housing. The government has been driving privatisation, and our council leaders have gutlessly gone along with it. An Arms length management organisation (ALMO) is part of the strategy, rushed through when tenants opposition stopped wholesale stock transfer, with most estates voting NO in 2006.
An ALMO is a private housing management company, though the Council retains ownership. If it gets a 2-star inspection rating, the ALMO qualifies to borrow extra money for Decent homes. Extra money is not guaranteed – Hackney still hasn’t got any and Enfield have shelved their ALMO because they didn’t get any money. But all the extra expense of consultants, new offices, legal fees, and yet more inflated chief officer salaries, will all be paid for by tenants and leaseholders – for a worse service. Already they are closing all local housing offices and slashing services.
The ALMO Board is less accountable and the tenants and leaseholders are a minority bound by company law of confidentiality, to serve the interests of the Board only. It means less real say for tenants and leaseholders, gives councillors a permanent excuse, and leads to waste, duplication and makes it harder to co-ordinate between different council services.
We were told during Housing Choice that ALMO was not an option for Tower Hamlets. The Council, and two expensive PriceWaterhouse Cooper reports said so.
So what happens if we don’t get funding, or the money runs out?
Down the line we believe the council will push the ALMO estates to the second stage - full privatisation through transfer to a Housing Association at a later stage, with private luxury developments all over estate land.
The private market will never provide the housing working people and our children in Tower Hamlets need.
That’s why we RESPECT Councillors support the call of the Council Housing group of MPs, the trade unions and Defend Council Housing, for a full and fair debate and ballot as the only acceptable way to consult properly on this decision.
Tenants and resident leaseholders live side by side and we all want to see repairs and improvements to our homes and estates. Our council and the government need to stop robbing money from rents and Right to Buy receipts, and reinvest every penny to improve existing and build a new generation of first class council housing.
The money is there. Government withholds £1.5 billion a year from tenants rents plus £500m from right to buy receipts nationally. Tower Hamlets is selling off buildings including Cheviot House and 723 Commercial Rd, bought and maintained using our money - and estimate these will bring in £36 million –of which £24 million is going to new office accommodation at Mulberry Place! £100 m from right to buy receipts in last 10 years have been used for non-housing projects.
Money is there – we need to not be split and divided but stand up for council housing – demand a ballot and right to vote NO.
Cllr Oliur Rahman