Report on Housing Futures Option Appraisal Meeting
I was at the briefing for leaseholders on the future of Stevenage Homes. Because of changes in the rules laid out by central Government, Stevenage Borough Council are considering taking back direct management of the housing stock currently owned by Stevenage Homes.
The meeting was not well attended. Probably because of a mix up in notifying leaseholders about the meeting. I received an email, but several people, including Jo Martins the Leaseholder rep on the Stevenage Homes board only found out about the meeting by chance.
Two options are being considered, both are new. You can download a PDF file of the slides from the presentation.. (271 kb)
Points made at the meeting were as follows:
There are no estimates of the cost of the two options given. Winding up Stevenage Homes would result in redundancies, one would likely be the recently appointed head of Stevenage Homes. This would not be cheep.
Any costs would likely involve redundancies it was too sensitive to be made public.
What are the breakdown of these figures?
These are not yet available to the public, but will be in the future.
The models of management structure show no indication of authority or lines of responsibility.
The actual management structure will be made later.
The last two points of the appraisal looks biased to the point of view of Stevenage Borough Council. The whole point of the ALMO (Arms Length Management Organisation) was to prevent politicians using housing to meet their “wider objectives.”
Shrugs….
Will Stevenage Borough Council be able to use rent money for things other than housing?
No.
Will the savings be used for housing?
Yes (But I do not think this can be gurasntreed)
How much of the projected saving will be reflected in reduced managemnent fees?
No one knows but the amount is likely to be small.
If Stevenage Borough Council take over will there be any external audit for quality?
No.
For more infromationa and to make your views known just visit the Stevenage Borough Council Website.
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