HOME | IMC UK | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Support Us

Liverpool Indymedia

ALMO - half way privatisation, Labour government collude to betray tenants!

Kai Andersen | 04.09.2004 12:02 | Health | Social Struggles | Liverpool

ALMO ownership by 2006
Arm’s-length management organisations could take over ownership of council homes by 2006 under radical new proposals drawn up by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.

The proposals will be considered by a review group comprising ALMO chief executives, council housing directors and ODPM and Treasury officials. It will be chaired by ODPM head of housing Neil McDonald.

Documents leaked to Inside Housing reveal the group is due to hold its first meeting later this month.

It has been given until the end of the year to draw up a report on ‘clear options for ALMOs after they have achieved the decent homes target’.

According to the document, written by a senior official at the ODPM, the group will look at options ‘ranging from ALMOs taking on ownership of the stock to management reverting back to the local authority’.

The National Federation of ALMOs said that a review was timely as a number of round one organisations were poised to hit the decent homes target by 2006.

Hounslow Homes managing director Chris Langstaff said his ALMO expected to meet the target by April 2006 and was interested in taking over the ownership function after that.

‘I think we should explore it but we would have to do it in partnership with our tenants and with the council,’ he said. ‘Our tenants voted for the ALMO but not for a change of ownership.’

But Defend Council Housing said the proposals backed up their case against ALMOs.

Committee member Alan Walter said: ‘Ministers always express mock outrage when we call ALMOs two-stage privatisation but this proves that we were right to argue that they are simply a vehicle to get around tenants’ resistance to fullblown stock transfer.’

The review group will look at the options for increased freedoms and flexibilities for ALMOs ‘but within public expenditure constraints’ – meaning that it will not consider giving ALMOs the same borrowing powers as housing associations.

It will also draft a new regulatory framework and will consider ‘whether the long-term existence of an ALMO is predicated on sustaining high performance’.


FOLLOWING ARTICLE TAKEN FROM THE GUARDIAN:

Council housing transfer plans 'betray' tenants

John Martin
Friday September 3, 2004

The government has been accused of "conning" hundreds of thousands of council tenants after it emerged it may renege on a promise to allow them to keep their cherished status as council tenants.

The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) has earmarked significant grants to repair council homes if tenants agree to switch the management of their homes to new arm's-length management organisations (Almos).

With one notable exception in Camden, the initiative has proved popular with tenants because, although management of housing switches to the new organisation, the ownership of their homes stays with the council.

This has generally helped to reassure council tenants that the extra rights they enjoy compared to housing association tenants will not be taken away by opting for Almos.

However, a new paper from the ODPM proposes giving Almos complete ownership of council homes, perhaps as early as 2006, as one of a number of options for the future.

Defend Council Housing, which campaigns against Almos and stock transfer to housing associations, said the plans were a "betrayal" of tenants who had been told Almos were not a first step to privatisation.

Committee member Alan Walter said: "It was always our argument that the government brought in Almos as stock transfer by the back door because they could not get tenants to agree to transfer in many areas.

"We always said it was a two-stage privatisation to get housing out of councils' hands completely. This confirms our predictions."

While councils must get the support of tenants through a ballot for stock transfer, there is no such legal requirement for Almos, although some authorities like Camden have put the issue to the vote.

"An awful lot of tenants have been deliberately conned," he said. "We will be demanding that ballots are held before ownership is transferred."

A review body, comprising officials from the ODPM, the Treasury, the Audit Commission, Almo chief executives, council housing directors and tenants' representatives, will meet for the first time this month.

The team will report to ministers in January on options for the future of Almos after they have met the government's target to bring all homes up to a decent standard by 2010. They will consider everything from Almos taking on ownership of stock to homes reverting to council control.

Mike Owen, the chief executive of Carrick Housing, an Almo in Cornwall, said he was hoping the review would come up with some radical options.

He called for consideration of allowing Almos greater borrowing flexibility while remaining under council ownership, as well as tenant-led transfers.

"Some Almos have almost reached the decent homes target and there needs to be consideration of the way forward," he said. "They have been a great success. I don't think tenants who have lived under five or 10 years of improvement will be fearful of Almos so I do not see why we should be hostages to Defend Council Housing shouting privatisation."

John Perry, a policy adviser at the Chartered Institute of Housing, said the review could lead to a new housing sector, that of council-owned housing associations.

"There would have to be two main changes to the rules," he said. "The government would have to treat publicly owned companies differently from direct spending by central and local government, as happens in the rest of Europe. And local authority owned associations would have to be permitted to register with the Housing Corporation. Obviously these are big changes."

Kai Andersen
- e-mail: aokai@tiscali.co.uk
- Homepage: http://groups.msn.com/SocialistLabourPartyLiverpool

Comments

Display the following comment

  1. DELETE THIS VERSION OF THE ARTICLE — Kai Andersen - trying again...

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

[navigation.actions2016]

[navigation.actions2015]

[navigation.actions2014]

NATO 2014

Actions 2013

G8 2013

Actions 2012

Workfare

Actions 2011

2011 Census Resistance
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Occupy Everywhere

Actions 2010

Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands

Actions 2009

COP15 Climate Summit 2009
G20 London Summit
Guantánamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
University Occupations for Gaza

Actions 2008

2008 Days Of Action For Autonomous Spaces
Campaign against Carmel-Agrexco
Climate Camp 2008
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Smash EDO
Stop Sequani Animal Testing
Stop the BNP's Red White and Blue festival

Actions 2007

Climate Camp 2007
DSEi 2007
G8 Germany 2007
Mayday 2007
No Border Camp 2007

Actions 2006

April 2006 No Borders Days of Action
Art and Activism Caravan 2006
Climate Camp 2006
Faslane
French CPE uprising 2006
G8 Russia 2006
Lebanon War 2006
March 18 Anti War Protest
Mayday 2006
Oaxaca Uprising
Refugee Week 2006
Rossport Solidarity
SOCPA
Transnational Day of Action Against Migration Controls
WSF 2006

Actions 2005

DSEi 2005
G8 2005
WTO Hong Kong 2005

Actions 2004

European Social Forum
FBI Server Seizure
May Day 2004
Venezuela

Actions 2003

Bush 2003
DSEi 2003
Evian G8
May Day 2003
No War F15
Saloniki Prisoner Support
Thessaloniki EU
WSIS 2003

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech

Publish Your News


Temporary Scroogle search

-->