Council With In-House Housing Service And ALMO Plans New ‘Combined Hybrid Service’

 Since being formed through a merger between three local authorities in April 2019, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council has continued to run an ALMO, Poole Housing Partnership (PHP), and an in-house housing service simultaneously. Now BCP’s cabinet has unanimously agreed to a review of its housing management model, with a “combined hybrid service” as its preferred option. That would involve closing PHP and setting up a new housing service within the council overseen by an “advisory board”, chaired by the council’s portfolio holder for housing and made up of council, resident and independent expert members. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/council-with-in-house-housing-service-and-almo-plans-new-combined-hybrid-service-71946?utm_source=Housing60&utm_medium=email&utm_content=article_link&utm_campaign=H60

ALMO Survives Review

Borough of Poole’s Conservative cabinet has voted unanimously to keep Poole Housing Partnership (PHP), which manages its 5,000 council homes. It approved a recommendation from the People Overview and Scrutiny Committee that the authority “resets its relationship” with the ALMO, rather than dissolves it. A petition to protect PHP was signed by 350 residents last year after it emerged that Borough of Poole had commissioned housing consultancy Campbell Tickell to carry out a review of its housing services. PHP will be asked to work more closely with the council’s “strategic priorities”, including through making cost savings. It will also undergo a governance review. Read more on Inside Housing.