LOCAL AUTHORITY MANAGEMENT & OWNERSHIP OF HOUSING

Is Local Authority Management and ownership of Housing Financially Sustainable?

Is Local Authority Management and ownership of Housing Financially Sustainable?

Introduction

With over 2.5 million council tenants in England, the Government expects Local Housing Authorities (LHAs) to carry out their housing management function effectively and efficiently, delivering high quality services. They should adopt a comprehensive approach to delivering these services that will contribute to the liveability and sustainability on their estates. The provision of good quality housing management services is key to the delivery of efficient services for council tenants.

Burnett (2006) mentions services may cover a wide range of functions: estate and tenancy management including rent collection and management of rent arrears, tackling anti-social behaviour and succession rights; repairs and maintenance service; allocations and lettings policy including making the effective use of housing stock through tackling over-crowding and under-occupation and the management of voids; and tenant involvement, consultation and rights.

To help local housing authorities achieve high standards, the Government works closely with the Local Government Association, the representative body of local government, and professional housing bodies such as the Chartered Institute of Housing (Burnett, 2006), both in developing housing policy and legislation, and in producing good practice guidance on how that policy should be implemented. This paper discusses whether local authority management and ownership of housing financially sustainable or not in a concise and comprehensive way.

Is Local Authority Management and ownership of Housing Financially Sustainable?

I think that local authority management and ownership of housing financially sustainable. Let me first discuss the housing management. The housing management function is wide-ranging covering all aspects of estate and tenancy management, at both a strategic level and through day-to-day liaison with individual tenants.

Although not prescriptive about how the management function is carried out, the Government does expect housing managers to have close liaison with their tenants. The kind of activities covered includes:

* estate and tenancy management

* rent collection and management of rent arrears

* repairs and maintenance service

* tackling anti-social behaviour

* succession rights

* allocations and lettings policy

* making effective use of housing stock through tackling over-crowding and under-occupation, requests for transfers and management of voids, and

* tenant rights, involvement and consultation

The Government has no particular view on whether councils should deliver housing management services centrally or locally. It does, however, recognise that good local (or "on-the-spot") housing management can be essential in helping to turn round poor and deprived estates. The Social Exclusion Unit's Policy Action Team 5 report on Housing Management discusses, and makes recommendations about, on-the-spot housing management.

Community organisations have owned or managed assets, including buildings and land, for many years. Current government policy encourages the transfer of assets to community organisations. This study reviewed existing evidence to explore the scale of community ownership in the UK, the benefits and outcomes that arise from it, and differing international approaches. It highlights that much of the existing evidence has been produced from within the community sector, and concludes that further independent evidence is needed on this ...