A review is underway to look at the future of Council Housing in Leeds. The Council is working together with all the ALMOs and BITMO to develop a vision for the future of council housing services in Leeds to continue to provide high quality services on a local level.
Why is the review happening?
In 2002, tenants voted overwhelmingly to set up ALMOs in Leeds to enable all Council houses to be brought up to the decency standard through the extra funding available.
Over the past 6 years, the ALMOs and the Council have delivered major improvement works through the Decency Programme and we are on target to meet the government’s Decency target by 2011 - to date there has been over £600m spent across Leeds on decency improvements to your homes.
However, the funding that allowed us to improve your homes will no longer be available after 2011. The Council need to consider what will happen after this date and make sure we are able to maintain the improved standard to our tenants’ homes.
The review is about more than just the bricks and mortar though. We want to build on our successes and make sure that we can provide even better local services in the future. The potential that each option gives to increase tenant empowerment will also be a hugely important factor in the review.
What are the Options?
The Council and the ALMOs are looking at a number of different options for the future of Council Housing in Leeds including the following:
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Remaining with three ALMOs and the BITMO
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Keeping ALMOs but altering the number or size of each organisation
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Returning some or all council housing to Leeds City Council
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Stock Transfer to a not-for-profit Registered Social Landlord
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A combination of all of the above
What has been happening?
There have been 3 successful key stakeholder events involving Strategic Landlord, ALMO Board members, tenants and Leeds Tenant Federation. The feedback from these events have already been extremely useful and will continue to play an important role in the review when looking at all the options. Before any final decision is taken, there will be further opportunities for more in depth consultation and feedback from tenants around the options and the future service and aspirations.
A Project Board has been set up to carry out the review and we are hoping to update you again in March 2010 with the progress of the option appraisal and details of further consultation if you would like to have your say. If you have any questions, please write to The future of Council Housing Project, Housing Services, 4thFloor West, 110 Merrion House, Leeds, LS2 8BB.