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From the archive - the decision that led to the founding of KCTMO

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

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25 years ago this week - Kensington & Chelsea Council decided to transfer stock management functions #ukhousing

15 years ago this week - #ukhousing was preparing for a new six-week rule for putting families in B&Bs

Five years ago this week - we revealed tenants were not paying the bedroom tax #ukhousing

25 years ago

Twenty-five years ago, Kensington and Chelsea Council announced plans to hand over management of its entire stock to tenants.

This was the moment that led to the founding of the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO), the Grenfell Tower landlord.

In December 2017, KCTMO was stripped of its contract to manage social housing by the council.

Michael Howard (below), then-environment secretary in John Major’s Conservative government, called the plan “bold and imaginative”, but did warn: “Delivery of services should be paramount.”

John Keys, a tenant and member of the working group, said: “With a borough-wide TMO, we will have direct control over management of our homes. It’s so exciting I can’t get there too soon.”

15 years ago

The sector was counting down the days (320 left) until a new rule was going to be introduced, banning councils from putting homeless families with children in B&Bs for more than six weeks.

Barbara Roche, the Labour minister for social exclusion at the time, wrote a long article for Inside Housing about this, saying families stuck in these B&Bs were “one of the most disturbing examples of social exclusion and homelessness”.

“Children have not had enough space to play or study. Families have had to share washing and toilet facilities. It’s been impossible to cook healthy meals.

“Too many families placed in B&Bs have been moved away from their relatives, friends, schools and doctors.”

Still, not everyone supported the legal penalty on councils.

The move to make it unlawful for councils to house families in B&Bs was questioned.

Gwyneth Taylor, programme manager at the Local Government Association, said: “If accommodation’s not available, what are they going to do? Put them on the streets?”

Five years ago

Thousands of tenants had failed to pay the bedroom tax, Inside Housing reported on its front page.

The policy – whereby tenants deemed to have a spare room have to pay extra rent – had only been in place for a matter of weeks, but several large housing associations were already reporting problems with tenants not covering their rent.

In some parts of the country, up to half affected tenants had not paid anything towards the shortfall, of around £14 a week on average.

Riverside Group in Liverpool said that just over 6,000 tenants were affected by the bedroom tax – of these, half had paid nothing towards the shortfall, and a quarter paid something but didn’t cover their rent in full.

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