Damage limitation

Promises about refurbishment that had been made in good faith by ALMOs to their tenants have now had to be broken and frantic contingency plans are being drawn up. So where to now?

The consistent line from Eland House is that the funds for ALMOs that achieve two-star ratings from the Audit Commission will still be available - just one year later than they expected. So, as things stand, all is not lost for councils with round six ALMOs.

The obvious caveat is that by the time these funds theoretically become available there will be a new administration in Whitehall. The letter sent to Conservative-run town halls in England this week from shadow communities secretary Caroline Spelman makes it clear that, under a Tory government, it would be far from business as usual for housing policy.

There is, however, a way out that should mean that ALMOs don’t have to make good their threat of taking the government to court over the issue.

The Homes and Communities Agency, which has responsibility for the decent homes programme, has already shown that it appreciates the gravity of the situation and how damaging it will be for tenant relations in the 137,000 homes affected. Under pressure from London mayor Boris Johnson, it has established a task force to examine the issue for the six London ALMOs involved. The HCA must now extend the remit of this task force to be national as decent homes funding is not a regional issue, despite the attraction of a neat solution in the capital.

Probability dictates that the HCA will underspend some of its £17.3 billion budget for 2008/11 - without taking into account extra government cash injections. Surely there will be some room for manoeuvre in favour of the round six ALMOs to ensure that no further damage is done to the reputation of a programme that should stand as one of New Labour’s few true legacies?

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