01 August 2003
A local authority was left seething this week after ministers turned down its application to place 13,000 council homes in the hands of an arm's-length management organisation.
Milton Keynes was the only one of 14 councils that had applied to join the third round of Almos to have its proposal rejected by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
A full list of 13 new Almos that could potentially receive £1.5bn in government funding by 2005/06 was published by the ODPM on July 28. Twenty-one Almos are already up and running.
But Milton Keynes was told it did not meet all the criteria and should consider other options for bringing homes up to standard, including stock transfer and the Private Finance Initiative. 'The options appraisal was not as robust as it should have been,' said an ODPM spokeswoman.
The council described the decision as a major blow after 80% of tenants voted in favour. 'The government has not taken notice that local tenants voted overwhelmingly for an Almo,' said Irene Henderson, Cabinet member for housing. 'We will have to go back to the drawing board.'
The 13 councils that received permission to go ahead and set up Almos own about 185,000 homes – 60 % of which fall below the decent homes standard. To gain money, they must achieve at least two stars from housing inspectors.
All eight first-round Almos received favourable inspection reports and gained a total of £678m. To date, four of the 13 Almos in round two have been awarded two stars or better, while the remainder have still to be inspected.
If all 34 local authorities receive the money promised, 690,000 out of 1.6 million non-decent homes in England will be brought up to standard via the Almo route. Housing minister Keith Hill said the government was on target to bring all social housing up to standard by 2010.
Gordon Perry, chair of the National Federation of Almos, said it was vital to keep up pressure on the Treasury so that money is available for Almos beyond 2005/06.
'It's in everybody's interest that Almos and housing investment remain high up the government's agenda,' he said.
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