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London council to close housing management arm
A council in south-east London is going to bring its arm’s-length housing management services back under direct control.
Lewisham Council’s cabinet and mayor voted last week to bring the management services delivered since 2007 by its ALMO, Lewisham Homes, back under direct control.
The ALMO currently manages around 20,000 homes on behalf of the local authority.
In a release, Lewisham said it will begin work to transfer staff and services to the council by the end of 2023.
The decision comes after a consultation in the summer with tenants and leaseholders which found that 71% of respondents had backed the proposal to return services in house.
Just 6% of people consulted opposed the plans, while 23% said they did not know one way or the other, Lewisham said.
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A June report drafted by council officers recommended bringing the service in house to help the authority deal with legislative changes, increased costs and dwindling tenant satisfaction.
However, the council had already identified a “pressing need” to invest in its stock of about 20,000 homes.
In January 2022, Lewisham Homes announced that it had developed a damp and disrepair action plan after a tenant’s poor housing conditions were exposed as part of an ITV News investigation.
A stock condition survey carried out in 2019 and 2020 established that £300m over five years was likely to be required to bring the stock up to the Decent Homes Standard.
Sophie Davis, Lewisham Council’s cabinet member for housing management and homelessness, said the borough is “ambitious for our future housing management service”.
“I’m looking forward to working with the Lewisham Homes board, tenants, leaseholders and staff on a smooth transition, and to make sure the feedback we received over the summer is reflected in our improvement plans,” Ms Davis added.
Ainsley Forbes, chair of Lewisham Homes, said that the organisation would be “working with the council to make sure the transfer happens as smoothly as possible, for our residents and staff”.
He added: “Changes won’t happen overnight, and we’ll continue to oversee the important work Lewisham Homes do to look after your homes, support tenants, leaseholders and communities over the year ahead.”
Lewisham is not the only council to have explored returning services to direct control in recent months.
In November, Rochdale Council said it wanted to bring housing management services, which are currently run by Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH), back in house.
The proposal, expressed in a letter from council leader Neil Emmott to the housing secretary Michael Gove, came after the death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak as a result of prolonged exposure to mould in an RBH flat.
In addition, Nottingham City Council took the decision to bring the services operated by its ALMO, Nottingham City Homes, back under its control earlier this year.
The move came after it was found that around £40m of Housing Revenue Account funds had been misspent.
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole’s cabinet also backed the termination of its ALMO in spring in favour of a new housing management model.
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