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Let’s keep our asks of government grounded at this crucial time

The National Federation of ALMOs is working with other council trade bodies to refine a set of asks of government as we begin to emerge from lockdown. But this is not the time to ask for everything we have ever wanted, writes Eamon McGoldrick

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“This is not the time to ask government for everything we have ever wanted them to do. Keep it focused,” writes Eamon McGoldrick from @NFA_ALMOs #ukhousing

Let’s keep our asks of government grounded at this crucial time, writes Eamon McGoldrick from @NFA_ALMOs #ukhousing

It would be nice to write a housing piece without mentioning ‘the virus’, but that is very difficult, so I won’t try!

A few months into lockdown, as managing director of the National Federation of ALMOs (NFA), I am reflecting on how our members reacted to the initial challenges and where their thinking is today.

Like all landlords, ALMOs spent the first few weeks dealing with the immediate challenges of staff shortages, keeping up gas servicing compliance and contacting vulnerable residents to see if they needed help. The NFA facilitated regular catch-ups with chief executives across the country and fed their views and asks directly to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), via weekly Tuesday afternoon meetings. These catch-ups have become a regular feature in my homeworking diary.


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Most members report being in the ‘new normal’ phase, which is more stable. However, the next challenge is to implement a raft of new guidance from government on how to deliver services and operate in a safe manner.

One thing for sure is that we will not be returning to the ‘old normal’ again. Landlords have used this period to transform their operations and working practices using positive lessons learned over the past two months.

We know we will see less paper, less travel and more homeworking in future. However, I am hoping we are going to see more partnership working between landlords and their trade bodies. There should also be an even stronger focus on helping residents who are going to be more vulnerable after the pandemic.

“Parts of the country could see lower private rents, less bullish landlords, reduced house prices and fewer Airbnb lets”

Turning to the housing policy agenda, it is both challenging and exciting.

The pre-COVID policy agenda was dominated by a focus on building/fire safety and the anticipated publication of the long-awaited Social Housing White Paper. The government has continued to work on the former and it would be easy to miss the fact that the Fire Safety Bill has cleared its second reading in parliament and is getting closer to royal assent.

The new housing minister recently said that the white paper will be published in due course. Don’t hold your breath, because that is government speak for another long delay. Discussions about KPIs and landlord league tables feel like history already!

In future we are going to see a lot of negative impacts of the pandemic on our social and economic health, but there may be some benefits. Parts of the country could see lower private rents, less bullish landlords, reduced house prices and fewer Airbnb lets.

However, the old challenges of keeping residents safe and improving life chances of our residents will be made more difficult with landlords having to deal with higher costs and reduced income.

An increase in homelessness is inevitable and has already started. In my view, this is not the time to ask government for everything we have ever wanted them to do. I have seen talk of requests for 10% pay increases, student debt to be written off and housing to be provided for a very long list of ‘essential workers’. I live in a London borough with 2,500 households already in temporary accommodation and 120 rough sleepers temporarily housed in hotels. As valuable as they are, I can’t see delivery drivers getting government help to upgrade their housing situation any time soon.

At the NFA, we are working with other council trade bodies to refine a set of asks of government as we come out of lockdown. These asks will build on what we have been campaigning for over many years and will be focused on what we think is deliverable.

These asks will include more programmes and grant to build social rented homes, for government to renew its focus on ending rough sleeping, reforming Right to Buy rules to ensure one-for-one replacement, full funding of all new building safety costs, and funding and policies to support the 2050 zero carbon target.

Building and acquiring new homes will help with the aftermath of COVID-19, but we must not forget that landlords’ obligations to improve building safety and mitigate climate change haven’t gone away.

By all means ask, but keep it focused.

Eamon McGoldrick, chief executive, National Federation of ALMOs

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