17 February 2006
Thirteen council-owned housing companies are to receive a total of £538m over the next two years, ministers announced this week.
The money, designed to help them to meet the 2010 decent homes target, is in addition to funds allocated after they were set up in 2002 and 2003.
Four out of Leeds Council's six arm's-length management organisations that initially failed to gain two stars from Audit Commission inspectors four years ago will share £155m. The council's other two Almos have already received a further round of funding.
The remaining £383m is to be shared among nine Almos set up three years ago. These include Newcastle and Sheffield, which are each receiving more than £100m.
Gwyneth Taylor, policy officer at the National Federation of Almos, said the latest allocations were much as expected after Almos were forced to absorb 2% efficiency savings.
'Almos are already delivering significant efficiency savings,' she said. 'This squeezes them even more.'
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