Let's start with a well deserved hat tip to John at Barnet for this news.
Hillingdon Council are to look into bringing their housing service back in house and consigning their ALMO to the past (where they all belong).
Hillingdon have spotted that an in-house service will be better able to co-ordinate with the rest of the Council, and that there will be savings from the expense of setting up the (pretend democratic) governance of an Arms Length Management Organisation.
UNISON Conference Policy is that “council housing should be a central component” in addressing housing need. TUC policy - agreed as Composite 13 this year - is that local authorities should be the “primary deliverers of social housing”.
Therefore whilst many UNISON branches have to seek a constructive working relationship with an ALMO whilst it employs many of our members - our objective should be to see ALMOs go the way of the Dodo. However the threat of privatisation will continue (particularly where Council housing stands on prime real estate) and we will need to continue to work with tenants against this ever present menace.
The senior managers in many ALMOs will have a vested interest in resisting a return to local authority control and will be likely to favour a stock transfer into the wonderful world of high pay and bonuses for the Chief Executives of Housing Associations...
That's a great report you linked to. Under the heading "Reasons For Decision" Hillingdon Council state bold as brass that they set up the ALMO to get hold of £60 million from the Government but now that's been spent, in-house housing services would actually be more effective and efficient.
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