Council to consult on bringing housing back in-house
Hoxton councillors oversee improvements on the roof of Napier Court in 2006. Photograph: © hoxtoncouncillors (Creative Commons)
Large swathes of the borough’s housing could be returned to council management as soon as April 2016.
Hackney Homes was set up by the council in 2006 as an arm’s length management organisation (ALMO) in order to get government funding to bring all council-owned housing up to Decent Homes standard.
The council and Hackney Homes are to consult tenants and leaseholders about the proposal.
The council’s Cabinet is to consider the proposals at its meeting on 21 July and, subject to getting the Cabinet’s go-ahead, the consultation will begin in August.
Charlotte Graves, Chief Executive of Hackney Homes said: “The Council and Hackney Homes Board feel that now is the right time to consult residents about the future management of housing in Hackney and we’re keen to hear the views of as many residents as possible.
Tim Shields, Chief Executive of Hackney Council, said: “Hackney Homes was primarily set up to deliver the Decent Homes Programme which will be successfully completed next year.
“Hackney Council is proud of its strong partnership with Hackney Homes and we see the proposal to consult with tenants and leaseholders on this joint recommendation as another example of this.”
It will be back to square one all over again. Cover ups, inefficiencies, incompetence to name a few.
Square one?Hackney Homes,Hackney Council, it doesnt make any difference on what goes on or is going to happen.
The only time in the last 20 years that our neighbourhood had anything approaching a good service was during the ‘honeymoon’ period of Pinnacle having the contract. Within a few years their budget was pared to the bone, their organisation riven with interncene strife and the service deteriorated to the level it had been under the Hackney Housing regime. I am reliably informed by someone who works in management for Hackney Homes in my neighbourhood that for the last year or two morale is at all time low and that a lot of staff ‘are just going through the motions’.