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ALMO under review following Home Standard breach
A council in the North East has placed its ALMO under review after the regulator identified serious fire, asbestos and electrical safety failings among its housing stock.
Gateshead Council, which owns around 19,000 homes, agreed last week to immediately update its management agreement with The Gateshead Housing Company (TGHC) and set a two-year deadline to decide the organisation’s future.
In April the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) revealed that Gateshead Council had breached the Home Standard by failing to carry out fire risk assessments properly, as well as asbestos surveys and electrical safety checks.
Measures in the new management agreement include new performance metrics for TGHC, covering a range of safety and housing management areas, plus a new regime of monitoring meetings with the council.
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An officer’s report to the authority’s cabinet said the changes would “update and strengthen the council’s oversight” of TGHC.
But the Labour-run council will still carry out a comprehensive review of its housing management with a “full options appraisal of alternatives” to the current set-up.
Gateshead Council predicts its Housing Revenue Account will reach its minimum reserve level by 2025/26.
TGHC is one of around 30 ALMOs operating in England following a series of closures in the past few years, down from nearly 70 in 2009.
Its management agreement with the council has been in place since the organisation was established in 2004 and has never been significantly amended, according to the council report written by Colin Huntington, acting strategic director for communities and environment at Gateshead Council.
The changes now proposed will require the RSH’s approval.
In response to a Freedom of Information request submitted by Inside Housing, Gateshead Council said that as of June all of its 466 blocks of flats with enclosed communal areas had up-to-date fire risk assessments and asbestos surveys.
It revealed that around 4,100 of its homes have not had new electrical safety certificates within the past 10 years, but said it intends to update 4,750 electrical safety certificates in 2019/20.
There is currently no direct legal guidance on the required time frame for completing electrical safety certificates.
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