Sheffield Failure Proves Housing First Can’t Work Anywhere In The UK

A Housing First service in Sheffield has failed spectacularly as it could not find 10 suitable and affordable properties from either private or social landlords in a city of over half a million people and 240,000 households and properties. The Housing First model can’t even find housing in a low rent cost housing area such as Sheffield.  If a miserly 10 suitable properties cannot be found in Sheffield then what chance do the larger scale Housing First models to be operated in Liverpool and Manchester have and both of those cities have fewer housing properties than Sheffield? Read more on the Speye Joe blog.

https://speyejoe2.wordpress.com/2019/03/08/sheffield-failure-proves-housing-first-cant-work-anywhere-in-the-uk/

Councils ‘Challenging’ Ministers After Exclusion From £1bn HRA Headroom Deal

Councils which worked with government to develop new funding flexibility for new homes have hit out at ministers after being excluded from bidding. Two councils that worked with government officials for more than a year to develop plans to allow councils to increase their borrowing capacity have said they were “disappointed” to discover they would not be allowed to bid for the fund. The government revealed last week that only councils where private rents are £50 more than social rents would be allowed to bid. This saw Sheffield, Stoke-on-Trent, and Newark and Sherwood councils excluded. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:WJOJgVqQtzYJ:https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news/councils-challenging-ministers-after-exclusion-from-1bn-hra-headroom-deal-57078+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&safe=vss

Bedroom Tax Is Top of List of Complaints in Clegg's Constituency

The first thing you see when you walk on to Liberty Hill in the Sheffield suburb of Stannington is a static CCTV camera. It keeps an eye on a cluster of social housing that residents say their MP Nick Clegg has never visited. His constituency of Sheffield Hallam is one of the country’s most well-off. It has only 1.5% unemployment. The CCTV is to counter anti-social behaviour. Yet in Stannington, residents’ concerns are not about each other but about Mr Clegg’s government. The hated Bedroom Tax is top of their list of complaints. There are 1,700 people in Sheffield Hallam hit by it. And because of its high concentration of council houses most are in Stannington. Clegg’s abrupt U-turn on the hated “spare-room subsidy” as his Government would have us call it has not gone down well here. Read more on the Daily Mirror website.

Sheffield Tops Council House Waiting List With 30,000

Sheffield has the highest waiting list for council houses in Yorkshire. Sheffield Council says more than 28,600 people are waiting to be housed. But officials added only a ‘small proportion’ are actively seeking properties, with fewer than 7,000 people putting in a bid since October. The figures have been issued in response to the GMB union naming Sheffield as the place in South Yorkshire with the highest number of people on a council housing waiting list. The GMB’s figures are from April 2013. They put the number of households in the city on the housing waiting list at that time at more than 60,000. Read more on the Sheffield Star website.

ALMO 'First in England to Fit Sprinkler to Tower Block'

An ALMO which is facing the threat of being brought back in-house by its council claims it has fitted the first tenanted tower block in England with a sprinkler system. Three-star ALMO Sheffield Homes - which manages 42,000 homes on behalf of the council - said it was "very proud" that its Callow Mount Sheltered Scheme had been recognised. However, Sheffield Council's cabinet met in October to discuss the recommendation that the management of its housing stock be brought back under council control. If agreed, tenants would then be consulted with an independent consultation in February. The work to fit the sprinkler system has come directly after the completion of over 12 months of decent homes investment work at the scheme and just weeks before district heating upgrade work was carried out on the building. Read more on the Sheffield Star website.

Up In Arms: Are We Facing The Death Of The ALMO?

Created by a government now in opposition for a mission that is now almost over, it would be easy to assume that ALMOs are quietly disappearing from the housing scene. In the last few weeks both Sheffield and Islington councils have decided, in principle, to take their ALMOs back in-house. Another 14 councils have already taken back direct control of their council housing, or are in the process of doing so after work on the decent homes programme is complete. But if you were to conclude that we are now facing the death of ALMOs, you would be wrong. In many places, councils have looked at their ALMOs record on delivering services and involving tenants and decided they like what they see. It is hard to verify an exact figure, but records suggest that the majority of the 60 ALMOs that currently exist are likely to continue in some form – often with an expanded role. All of the ALMOs extending their contracts are not just extending the length of the contract but also extending their remit. Meanwhile new ALMOs have sprung up in Welwyn Hatfield and Kent. And councillors in Cornwall puzzling out how to manage housing in a new unitary authority made up of three districts with a stock transfer, two with retained stock and one with an ALMO, have decided to expand the ALMO to cover the whole county and give it more housing functions. Read more of this opinion piece on the Guardian website.

ALMO Looks Set For Chop

England’s largest ALMO is set to be axed despite achieving the best inspection results in the country. Councillors are planning to scrap Sheffield Homes, which has managed Sheffield Council’s 42,000 homes since 2004. Cabinet members agreed at a meeting that the council’s ‘preferred option’ is to move housing management in-house. The authority will now conduct a non-binding ballot of tenants and make a final decision in March. The ALMO has been awarded the maximum three-star rating from the Audit Commission three times. But the report to cabinet said an inhouse service offers scope for significant savings without affecting frontline services, and would also bring back direct responsibility between members, staff and tenants. Read more on the Sheffield City Council website.

Council to Consult On Plans to Ditch ALMO

Sheffield's 42,000 council houses could be taken back in-house if tenants give the move their blessing. The city's housing stock has been managed by ALMO Sheffield Homes since 2004, which was set up to deliver a £600 million upgrade of every property under the Decent Homes programme. The contract runs out in 2014. The council's cabinet is due to meet on 19 October to discuss the proposals, with the recommendation that management be brought back under council control. Tenants would then be consulted with an independent ballot by the Electoral Reform Society in February. Read more on 24dash.

Sheffield Consults On Future of ALMO

Sheffield Council has written to tenants asking for their views on the future of its ALMO. Letters were sent to all 50,100 of Sheffield Homes’ tenants, asking them to choose the neighbours they want to represent them on a new consultation board. The management agreement between the council and the ALMO ends on 30 March 2014. The role of the tenant-led advisory group will be to help the council design a fair consultation process on how housing will be managed after this date. Two representatives from each of the six housing areas will be on the board, as well as two sheltered and two leaseholder representatives. Read more on Inside Housing.