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From the archive - Straw hits out at 'unaccountable' housing associations

Inside Housing looks back at what was happening in the sector this week five, 15 and 25 years ago

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25 years ago

Jack Straw (below), Labour’s environment spokesperson at the time, hit out at “unaccountable” housing associations, Inside Housing reported.

Associations should be forced to publish details of their inner workings, and local authorities should get more representation on their committees, he argued.

“I’m concerned primarily about [the associations’] lack of democracy and the fact that the government’s agenda is to replace elected housing authorities with unelected ones. I think some people in housing associations are alive to the problems but they really need to be aware of the way they are being used for fairly cynical purposes,” he argued.

Mr Straw also called for reform of the Housing Corporation, regulator of the sector at the time, calling it a “self-perpetuating quango”.

Photo: Ministry of Justice

15 years ago

A quarter of all councils were thinking of setting up an arm’s-length management organisation (ALMO) to take over running their housing, making it the most popular option for council landlords at that time.

An Inside Housing survey of councils found ALMOs were more popular than whole stock transfer to a housing association, or councils retaining their role as a landlord.

Mark Lupton, then a policy analyst at the Chartered Institute of Housing, worried that the government’s plans hinged on stock transfers, and there would not be the capacity for all these councils to set up ALMOs.

“They will not all be able to do it, so what happens then? Many will be forced to look at the option of partial transfer for some of the worst estates,” he said. Only 3% of councils told Inside Housing they were considering such a partial transfer.

A government spokesperson said: “We are not worried about the ALMO option being oversubscribed because councils have to be high performing to get the money.”

The concept of setting up an ALMO was introduced in 2000 by the Labour government. The first ALMOs were created in 2002.

Five years ago

Social landlords were planning to set up a home swap service to help tenants escape the effects of welfare reform and find work. The scheme was hoping for government funding, and had the support of 15 landlords.

Social landlords in high-demand areas would work with others in low-demand areas to help tenants move. The aim was to facilitate 150 moves a year initially, then ramp up to 1,000 moves a year.

Patrick Odling-Smee, then service director of housing at Islington Council, said: “This will allow tenants to move out of expensive areas into cheaper areas without moving out of social housing.”

A proposal document by Circle and Home Connections suggested it would help those hit with the bedroom tax and benefit caps.

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