The ALMO movement: Decent Homes and beyond

Decent homes are important for the health and well-being of those living in them, and are a key element of any thriving, sustainable community. ALMOs have dramatically improved services for council tenants and have given residents a voice in the management and improvement of their homes and a sense of pride in where they live.{mosimage}

The original goal of Communities and Local Government (CLG) was to implement the Decent Homes scheme on behalf of the Government by challenging councils and housing associations to deliver 2.1 million decent homes by 2010.

One of the delivery options for achieving the standard was for local authorities, with tenant approval, to set up an ALMO, with a key driver being that the model would give residents a real say in how their homes are managed and improved. Since their inception £4billion of government funds for decent homes has been issued to ALMOs, with funding released on achieving a minimum two-star rating from the Audit Commission. By December 2008, 31 ALMOs had achieved the two-star rating while a further 18 have been awarded the maximum three-star rating, a track record unsurpassed by the housing association or traditional local authority sectors.

Since 2002, 69 ALMOs have been set up to manage over one million council homes in 66 local authorities and achieve the decent homes standard. ALMOs are, in the main, managing the most difficult stock in terms of its age, type and repair history.

For those councils that wanted to keep their stock in public ownership, but were unable to achieve the decent homes standard because the condition of the stock pushed it out of their reach, ALMOs were their best option.

While some ALMOs are still concentrating on attaining that magic twostar rating and carrying out their decent homes work, those ALMOs that have already met, or have nearly met the standard, have been discussing their options for the future.

Research carried out last year for the CLG found an average 40 per cent gap between the funding local authorities and ALMOs need to maintain their stock at decent standard, and what they receive for major repairs under the complex housing revenue account subsidy system. This means that the long term sustainability and financing of existing housing stock both remain major issues for the sector.

The outcome of the Joint Treasury/CLG Review of Council Housing Finance in the spring could deliver a sustainable funding model for ALMOs and will have major implications for the financial viability of the sector.

If ALMOs lose funding it is not just the management that will be lost, it is the wider impact ALMOs have had on communities that will be broken as well. The decent homes standard was only ever a half way house not a final destination. Now that these repairs have been made and gleaming new facilities added to many homes these need to be maintained.

Leeds-based ALMO Aire Valley Homes (AVHL) is set to achieve the 2010 target having brought 78 per cent of its stock up to standard. But they are thinking long term. According to AVHL, they set decency work in the context of wider efficiency, for example, installing wet floor showers and other adaptations during decency works for customer convenience and to reduce future spend.

While stock transfer is grabbing the headlines as one or two ALMOs are considering that option to fulfil their funding gap, many other ALMOs have been looking at a different path towards long-term sustainability. Some 22 ALMOs have now pre-qualified for a social housing grant for new build.

Since ALMOs cannot access private sector finance but use public borrowing and council-owned land they are not so
adversely affected by the lack of lenders as their housing association colleagues. Plus there is a major potential role for ALMOs in estate renewal and regeneration of the current council housing stock and in delivering locally tailored community services in accordance with local authority priorities, such as helping deal with mortgage rescue schemes and repossessions.

The thing to remember about the ALMO movement is that its strength is its ability to respond to local circumstances, but that also means one size does not fit all.

The NFA will be lobbying the government throughout 2009 to continue the financial support that is so essential to maintain the excellent service provided by ALMOs up and down the country.

All of this makes the successes in the sector all the more poignant. Given the funding situation and deadlines facing everyone, ALMOs will be watching the outcome of the subsidy review very closely.

However, change is inevitable and once the Decent Homes target has been universally achieved, new targets will need to be implemented.