News
28 July 2009
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| The London Borough of Havering |
COUNCIL tenants were dealt a devastating blow this week as a £112 million Government handout to the borough's troubled arms length management organisation (ALMO) was withdrawn.
Homes in Havering, introduced in June 2006 to manage the borough's 12,500 council homes, was told it would be entitled to the nine figure sum to bring the housing stock up to the Decent Homes standard providing it reached a two-star rating in an Audit Commission inspection.
Of the cash £9m was expected in the first year, £21m in the following year, and the remainder £82m over future years on improving bathrooms, kitchens, windows and doors.
But HiH failed to pass, achieving only a single star last year - sparking the controversial exit of former chief executive Stephanie Miller who received an £87,000 pay out.
A series of shake-ups within the ALMO followed - including the appointments of a new chief executive, new board chairman, and a cash injection of £20million by Havering Council in March this year to help bring Homes in Havering up to standard to finally achieve its two-star rating at its next inspection in September (deferred from its original February date).
But a letter from the Homes and Communities Agency, which is responsible for distributing the funding, stated the borough's grant along with several other London borough's grants which had been earmarked for vital housing improvements, were to be instead spent on building new homes as part of HCA's Building Britain's Future programme.
And no matter what rating Homes in Havering achieves in September's inspection it will not receive any of the promised cash until the earliest 2011/2012.
Havering Council has written to the HCA demanding a reversal of the decision.
Leader of the Council, Cllr Michael White said: "Asking our tenants to give up their hopes of decent homes for several years, so new houses can be built elsewhere in the country is a major slap in the face. The government must fulfill its promise to fund the improvements that our tenants deserve."
Chairman of the HiH board, Angela Matthews, said she was also "extremely disappointed" after working "flat out" to ensure HiH passes the September inspection and said: "Our tenants deserve better and we'll work with the council to fight this decision and make the Government honour its promises."
But Leader of the Opposition, Residents Association Councillor Clarence Barrett, said it was not just the government who was to blame. He said: "Access to additional funding of £112 million depended on Homes in Havering getting a two star assessment. The last assessment by the Audit Commission awarded just a single star.
"Although this decision by the Government has let our tenants and leaseholders down, they were already let down by Homes in Havering."
Residents' Association Cllr Andy Mann, whose Havering Park ward is made up of more than 20 per-cent council tenants, said: "The real issue here is that Homes in Havering missed the boat a year ago.
"If Havering fails to get its two stars in the inspection in September, serious consequences could be in line for Homes in Havering: we could see it back under the control of the council; another option is total stock transfer, with all houses dished out to housing associations.
"What there is no denying is that Homes in Havering has big financial problems."
Poor handling of complaints, problems with anti-social behaviour, lack of customer focus, poor first time repairs, an insufficient decorating programme and inconsistent communal area cleaning programme were some of the areas which held HiH back in its last inspection.
The council says it is confident it has made enough headway to get the right result next time round but Cllr Barrett said whether HiH would was still "far from clear".
When asked whether the withdrawal of funding would mean the end of HiH, member of the HiH board and Deputy Leader of the Council, Cllr Steven Kelly, said: "I'm not prepared to comment on that. That's speculation."
He said it was "early days" whether the council would have to rethink its approach but he said "a real road for the council to consider" could be "to fund it (HiH) itself".