Stockport council to fund £100k social housing review
Stockport council will fund a 100k review into how its social housing is managed.
The town hall's housing stock is currently managed by Stockport Homes, an arms length management organisation (ALMO).
Tenants and councillors have criticised the company in recent months, over claims of a lack of urgency fixing repairs and other issues.
Stockport Homes says it is putting a lot of funding into repair work, completing 2,000 more repairs job this January compared to the same month last year.
The company's satisfaction results for December 2023 found that 95 percent of tenants reported overall satisfaction.
Stockport Labour Group called for a "a full and independent" review of the ALMO model at the council's budget meeting on Thursday, February 22.
It was put forward as an amendment to the Lib Dem budget proposals, and accepted by all parties during the meeting.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service understands the CEO of Stockport Homes, Helen McHale, wrote to some councillors before the meeting, raising concerns about not having had the chance to debate the matter.
Stockport Labour leader David Meller said: "This year Stockport council will pay Stockport Homes – a company it owns – in excess of £35 million to manage its housing. Yet the council under recent legislation is the named body responsible for ensuring all its housing is safe.
"As a council we need to be certain as we can that we won't have a tragedy like Awaab Ishak on our doorsteps - we owe it to him. Councils across the county that operate an arms length model are now considering whether this is the right approach for them.
"There are now fewer than 20 ALMOs left, councils like Bury, Newcastle, and the Lib Dem-run Cheltenham have all made decisions to bring their housing management back in house.
"In the process they are managing to save themselves millions per year, which can then go back into basic councils services."
Councillor Matt Wynne, leader of the Edgeley Community Association and a Stockport Homes tenant himself, supported calls for a review.
He said: "There's the sense that Stockport Homes Group has become detached from the communities and tenants it serves, and confidence is far too low for our liking for this to continue.
"We've used the last of our goodwill to keep tenants happy in our ward. We went into the York Street community centre yesterday to speak to residents, who were in full agreement with that's on the table tonight."
Cllr James Frizzell, of Stockport Green Party, said his colleagues have been working with Stockport Homes over issues at the Lancashire Hill estate.
He said: "We were shocked to learn of the deteriorating conditions as described and evidenced by residents over the last 15 years or so, but worsening in the last five years.
"We would like to put on record our thanks to the Stockport Homes staff we've worked with, many of whom have gone above and beyond to improve conditions at Lancashire Hill and in Heaton and Norris Towers.
"We do however feel we need a review to see if we are providing social housing in the best possible way."
Cllr Anna Charles-Jones, leader of the Independent Ratepayers, said her Group would support the Labour amendment.
Labour councillor Karl Wardlaw said response times from the customer service at Stockport Homes has been "particularly poor."
Stockport council deputy leader, Cllr Mark Roberts, said he was content to accept the Labour amendment to the budget, but it was "disappointing that Labour have chosen to show themselves as unfit to lead this borough."
He added: "Leadership is carefully evaluating the best way of achieving your objectives, building a coalition of support around you. It's not surprising a trusted partner by parking your tank on their lawn and going to the press with no discussion and no warning to an organisation of over 300 staff."
The Labour Group said it has consulted with Unison over the review and that "no one should be fearful of it."
Jenny Osbourne, chair of the board at Stockport Homes Group, said: "We are confident that any review will evidence the innovative, high performing organisation SHG [Stockport Homes Group] is, we do hope however that the review will be proportionate so neither wasting resources nor taking our collective focus off delivering services to customers.
"As a team, we are committed to working together to deliver positive outcomes for customers and the borough and this is something that we will not lose sight of whilst the review is happening."
The ALMO model and Stockport Homes was last reviewed ten years ago.
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