Are ALMOs at the end of their road?

Reporter: David Bartlett (RoFTRA)
Date online: 28/04/2008

Inside Housing - the magazine for housing professionals - includes an Arms Length special that opens by asking what the future holds for them as the first 10 are at an important crossroads with some parent authorities even suggesting that their days are numbered.

Rochdale Boroughwide Housing is one of those first 10, set up in 2002 as the only way the Council could see to get the government money to bring their decaying council houses up to the Decent Standard.

That job has been completed, and completed well. But having lost their main function and with the numbers of properties they manage declining faster than overheads can be reduced, the financial future is not sustainable.

The government has so far denied them powers either to borrow or to build and their only real hope is that an ongoing government review due for completion early next year gives them those powers. The evidence to date is not encouraging.

There are other options than hanging on to the ALMO structure. Some authorities with ALMOs that have completed the Decent Homes task are looking to take the management of council housing back; others still are considering transfer to a Housing Association.

Oldham, for example, as the Inside Housing review reports, has already launched the necessary full-blown Options Review that will reach its conclusion in September.

RoFTRA believes that the best option for Rochdale borough's tenants lies through a Community Gateway model that increases the role of tenants in the ownership and management of their own housing.