Hammersmith and Fulham plans to close ALMO
Hammersmith and Fulham council has announced plans to take its arm’s-length management organisation back in-house.
The board of H&F homes has launched a consultation with tenants on closing the ALMO and returning housing management services to the council from March 2011.
The council hopes to save more than £400,000 by shutting the ALMO now that its £230 million Decent Homes programme is complete.
Harry Audley, chair of H&F Homes, said: ‘Our job is to provide the best possible quality housing to our residents and we believe this move in challenging financial times would be good news all round.’
Lucy Ivimy, cabinet member for housing, said: ‘Bringing H&F Homes back in-house means that we can focus the resources we have on delivering an even better service to tenants and leaseholders rather than wasting that money on unnecessary costs.’
The consultation will run throughout August and September and the ALMO board will make a final recommendation to the council in November.
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Readers' comments (15)
Melvin Bone | 11/08/2010 2:35 pm
What a con. They bung housing out as an ALMO to get government funding then bring it back in house to save 'unnecessary costs'.
I'd love to know where the £400,000 of projected saving is coming from.
ALMOs should be a one way street.
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kass | 11/08/2010 2:36 pm
The shame of social landlords, playing football with their residents all the time. Getting them into almos when they like it and then getting them out of it when they also like it.
And the residents are just letting themlsves shoved to and fro like sheep annd not even bleating about it.
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Anonymous | 11/08/2010 2:42 pm
"not even bleating about it"
That's down to the location. No-one wants to bleat about the Bush.
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Melvin Bone | 11/08/2010 2:53 pm
Kass, H&F Homes was established in June 2004 after tenants and residents voted to create an arms length management organisation, or ALMO, to release decent homes funding...
So they voted for it. One tenant one vote.
Not sure they get a chance to vote about going back though...
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Sidney Webb | 11/08/2010 3:12 pm
I wonder if the £400k saving will be before or after rebranding costs, office alterations, restructuring costs, new Board recruitment, golden goodbyes............
If £400k is there as a saving, who's been over-charged for 6-years?
I hope that tenants will be given a range of options - conversion to RSL, Direct Management, Tenant Management, Cooperative Ownership - so that an real and informed choice can be made.
A ballot is a must - surely (90% agreement!!!)
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kass | 11/08/2010 3:31 pm
If for H& Fulham taking back the almo means a saving of half a million, why all other councils in england do not do the same and do the same savings then?
Or is it because H & Fulham was wasting half million on nothing for its residents?
One or the other or both is got to be true. this is done by social landlords who who evict tenants for being a few hundreds in arrears, but no one kicks their directors or ceos for anything, do they?
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| 12/08/2010 1:02 am
Well done Stephen Greenhalgh. You made the right call yet again. Long live the Radical Right Wing Borough of H&F, long may you remain the model for all others!
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Both sides of the fence | 12/08/2010 1:20 am
£400k of savings isn't that much put in context of their overall budget. Although ALMOs have been proven to be the best at providing decent services for their tenants and leaseholders (the number of 3 star ALMOs compared to the number of 3 star HAs and LAs show that) they are higher cost. The reason for that is staffing. You don't need a chief executive for a start which is a saving of around £150k+ with on costs. Then the finance and HR teams will be absorbed by the Council with probably just a couple of additional posts needed in the Council's teams. That's your £400k saving, it's not money wasted it's money needed for running a separate company.
I suspect that a lot of LAs will be looking at their ALMOs in this current climate and considering the amount they can save by bringing the service back in house. I think it's a real shame as the Council can't provide the same level of service - the fact that there are no 3 star housing services in retained stock Councils shouts this from the rooftops.
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Melvin Bone | 12/08/2010 9:24 am
They should be set up as a fully blown Housing Association really.
Less cost to the Council, better service for the tenants.
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Anonymous | 12/08/2010 12:29 pm
A housing association is about the last thing it should be. Completely unaccountable.
An in-house houisng department is accountable through the politicians. You can kick them out if they screw up.
Well done, H & F. Short of a co-op, it's the better choice.
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