Rapid turnover of arm's-length executives

Arm's-length management organisations underwent massive upheaval over the last year with a quarter replacing their chief executives.

Tenants of established ALMOs on the first five rounds of the programme have seen chief executives join at a rate of one per month since the start of 2007. One in four have seen a new broom take control or are seeking a replacement, research by Inside Housing has revealed.

Pressure to meet the decent homes deadline, interference from parent authorities and the desire to take on a new challenge were named as the chief reasons for the exodus.

The most recent departure was Billy Rae, who left Hammersmith & Fulham Homes by mutual consent after leaks revealed the ALMO had only received one star in a draft inspection report.

Gwyneth Taylor, policy officer at the National Federation of ALMOs, said there was 'quite a lot of movement' at the top in the last year.

Some chief executives had left in search of more excitement after getting two stars from the Audit Commission or finishing the refurbishment work, she said. But others had paid the price for poor performance.

'People who come in to become the chief executive of an ALMO should have absolutely no illusions about the fact it is high risk. It is much higher risk than if you were chief officer of a local authority or a [registered social landlord].'

There were a couple of cases where chief executives had left ALMOs because council interference 'no longer let them do the job', she added.

Consultant David Hucker, a troubleshooter who has taken the reins of several ALMOs, agreed. 'With ALMOs the clock starts ticking from the moment it goes live,' he said. 'The pressure to achieve those two stars is immense.'

Steve Boyd became chief executive of Tristar Homes after moving from housing association Nomad.

He was attracted by the size of the organisation and the challengeof the job but admitted the sector could have problems retaining chiefexecutives in the long term. 'You are actually managing a decliningbusiness [because of right to buy and demolitions], which is lessglamorous,' he said. 'If you work for housing associations youdon't have the same political sensibility or pressures.'