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| In the United Kingdom, the Government is proposing that any housing for those on low income should be provided in future by housing associations. They support stock transfer - where housing associations acquire ownership of council housing (properties owned by local authorities). This is controversial because it reduces rights and financial protection available to council tenants |
Home improvement plan is unaffordable, says Kelly
Labour today rejected a call for a "level playing field" for improving council housing stock as the communities and local government secretary insisted the proposals were unaffordable. (Guardian, 27 Sep 2006)
Tenants say yes to homes transfer
People living on five estates have voted in favour of transferring their homes out of direct council control.
...The five Brixton estates in the new area Almo are Blenheim Gardens, Cowley, Loughborough, Roupell Park, and Waltham. (South London Press, 15 Aug 2006)
'We need a housing vote'
There must be a ballot on the future of a borough's council housing, according to a veteran MP.
Kate Hoey said tenants in Lambeth must get a vote on whether they want their homes transferred to an arm's length management organisation (Almo). (South London Press, 4 Aug 2006)
Government drops council house repair deadline
The government today abandoned its controversial policy of repairing council houses by removing them from local authority control, after fierce opposition from tenants' groups and the Labour rank and file. (Guardian, 7 Jun 2006)
Battle for council housing
The victimisation of anti-council housing privatisation campaigner Eileen Short by Tower Hamlets council (Listen to the residents, January 3) shows how desperate many councils - egged on by ministers and civil servants - have got. (Guardian reader's letter, 4 Jan 2006)
Listen to the residents
After 14 years working at the Tower Hamlets council press office, Eileen Short has been deemed not good enough to do her job.
...It's surely no coincidence that for the past four years, the mother of two has also been an active campaigner in the battle to keep council housing under local authority control. (Guardian, 3 Jan 2006)
Edinburgh council tenants reject homes transfer
Council tenants in Edinburgh today became the first in Scotland to vote against the transfer of their homes to a housing association. (Guardian, 15 Dec 2005)
Tenants vote for transfer after acrimonious campaign
A bitterly fought campaign over a council's housing stock appears to be over after tenants voted to switch their homes to housing association control just months after voting against the idea.
Amid allegations of dirty tricks from both sides, Sefton council announced last night that 71% of its tenants had voted in favour of transferring their homes to a housing association. (Guardian, 14 Dec 2005)
Labour leaders lose housing vote
The Labour Party's leadership suffered a fourth defeat as the conference neared its end, with a vote for a fair share of funding for council housing. (BBC, 29 Sep 2005)
Row erupts over council homes sell-off
Northampton council has become the latest battleground in the government's troubled programme to switch homes away from municipal control. (Guardian, 18 May 2005)
Fury over Raj’s ‘mini Almo’ plan
The Town Hall’s housing department stands accused of setting up a ‘mini-Almo’ (Arms-length management organisation) after creating a private company to manage the way Camden’s council flats are dished out. (Camden New Journal, 30 Dec 2004)
Labour donor sounds death knell for council housing
The government was today urged to force all councils to transfer their housing stock to housing associations within three years, under provocative new proposals launched by a Labour party donor.
In a new pamphlet for left-leaning thinktank the Fabian Society, Jeff Zitron argued that tenants should no longer have a vote to keep their council landlords. (Guardian, 15 Dec 2004)
Tenants 'blackmailed' into housing transfers
Claims that ministers are trying to blackmail tenants into accepting new management of council housing are justified, according to a government researcher.
Academic Hal Pawson, who has carried out a series of official studies for the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, has delivered a scathing attack on the government's troubled housing policy.
Writing in this year's UK Housing Review he claimed that that it was misleading of ministers to claim that their policy of switching homes to new landlords promoted choice in public services. (Guardian, 29 Oct 2004)
A level paying field
"Labour will also ensure that where tenants choose to remain under the management of their local authority, they will not be financially disadvantaged - funds available for stock transfer will be equally available to councils, ensuring a level playing field."
These words, agreed by delegates at Labour's conference on Sunday, overturned the government's artificial restriction to three options for council tenants on how to improve their homes. (29 Sep 2004)
ALMO ownership by 2006
Arm’s-length management organisations could take over ownership of council homes by 2006 under radical new proposals drawn up by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. (Inside Housing, 3 Sep 2004)
Nottingham reveals winning ALMO formula
Nottingham Council has won overwhelming backing for its arm's-length management plans after 'wrong-footing' anti-ALMO campaigners. (Inside Housing, 30 Jul 2004)
Give council tenants a real choice
Their opposition to privatisation should be respected by Labour. (Guardian, 5 Jul 2004)
Government backtracks on target 'fiddle'
Government attempts to "fiddle" a key manifesto target on council housing were circulated by mistake, officials have claimed today. (Guardian, 10 Jun 2004)
Government's housing transfer policy 'undemocratic'
The government's "ideological crusade" against council housing is splitting the Labour party and alienating the party's core support on council estates, a group of MPs warned today. (Guardian, 9 Jun 2004)
Coalition to press ministers to listen to tenants
A broad-based coalition of MPs, councils, unions and tenant groups has been formed to urge ministers to respect council tenants' choice if they vote against hiving-off their homes to new management. (Guardian, 2 Jun 2004)
Tenants reject homes transfer for second time
In the latest blow to the government's policy of selling off council housing, tenants in the royal borough of Kingston upon Thames have rejected transferring their homes to a housing association for the second time of asking. (Guardian, 2 Jun 2004)
'I don't talk to tenants,' says Housing Minister
Housing minister Keith Hill yesterday (Wednesday) ruled out a meeting with tenants as the deadlock over cash for council homes continues.
(Camden New Journal, 29 Apr 2004)
District Auditor to hear complaint over Almo
A rebel tenant is to meet with the District Auditor later this month over his complaints that Camden spent too much money pushing its bid to join the government's flagship policy for council housing. (Camden New Journal, 14 Apr 2004)
Now minister blames the New Journal
The housing minister who called tenants fighting the government’s flagship plans for council housing as “communists” and “Trotskyists” has also unleashed an attack on the New Journal for its extensive coverage of the debate.
... It was only after 77 per cent tenants and leaseholders who took part in the referendum voted against the scheme that the New Journal joined the united campaign for direct investment formed by residents and politicians from all parties, including Holborn and St Pancras MP Frank Dobson.
The campaign, which includes the popular petition circulated in the newspaper over the past two months, demands £283 million earmarked for the now aborted Almo plan is sent to Camden immediately. (Camden New Journal, 1 Apr 2004)
What planet is the Minister really on?
Housing minister Keith Hill has caused a storm of protest by suggesting the results of a referendum on the future of Camden’s homes should not stand until every single tenant has given their opinion. (Camden New Journal, 11 Mar 2004)
Tenants turn down £33.7m private finance option
Tenants of a top-performing London council have once again voted against one of the government’s three options for housing investment.
Just two months after Camden’s tenants voted down the council’s plans for an ALMO, residents of its Maiden Lane estate rejected plans to use the private finance initiative to attract the £33.7 million needed to improve their 479 homes and the estate. (Inside Housing, 11 Mar 2004)
Transfer market is too hot for the sector’s biggest lender
The biggest lender to the social housing sector is scaling back its involvement as the transfer market demands ever better rates.
Bank of Scotland committed £4.1 billion to the sector last year and has provided funding for a number of major transfer deals including Glasgow and Walsall. (Inside Housing, 11 Mar 2004)
When is a promise not a promise?
This must be the week for going back on manifesto pledges. Within hours of the Commons vote on the government's u-turn on top up fees, the government has ratted on another election promise. (Guardian, 28 Jan 2004)
Council tenants denied decent homes
Camden council welcomes the government's significant investment to meet its target of improving all council housing by 2010. However, Matt Weaver's article (When tenants say no, January 16) aptly highlights a serious dilemma for the government. (Guardian readers' letters, 19 Jan 2004)
When tenants say no
Labour's manifesto pledge to repair all council housing by 2010 is in serious trouble. Last week another vote by tenants exposed the serious flaws in the government's attempts to meet the target by hiving off homes from council control. (Guardian, 16 Jan 2004)
Lambeth takes first step towards partial stock transfer
Lambeth council has taken the first step towards implementing three separate partial housing stock transfers. The borough has written to the government registering Lambeth's interest in transfers involving the Stockwell Park, Clapham Park and Kennington Park estates. (Lambeth Council Press Release, 14 May 2003)
Housing: the sell-off
Eighteen properties are to be sold off today by a council with nearly 24,000 people on its housing waiting list.
Five of the houses due to be auctioned are family-sized homes on quiet streets, while a further six are good-sized flats above shops.
If they fetch their guide prices, they will net at least £2.5million for Lambeth council. (South London Press, 18 Feb 2003)
Transfer of Birmingham council homes 'inescapable'
Up to a third of Birmingham council's 80,000 homes will have to be hived off to housing associations despite a decisive tenant vote against the idea earlier this year, according to an independent commission. (Guardian, 9 Dec 2002)
Report rejects council property transfer
A BID to give away 35,000 Lambeth council properties has been given the thumbs down as the crippling costs involved would almost bankrupt the town hall. (South London Press, 7 Dec 2001)
Study reveals BME neglect
Housing associations are continuing to fail to represent tenants from ethnic minorities, despite increasing pressure to perform on race.
... Hyde Southbank Homes, part of the Hyde Group, based in Clapham, London was the worst performer with no board level representation from BME communities despite 62.5 per cent of its lettings going to BME tenants and drawing 57.9 per cent of its staff from ethnic minority communities. (Inside Housing, 4 Dec 2001)
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