Council to consult on homes transfer

TOWN Hall chiefs at Warrington have agreed to press ahead with consultation on the plan to transfer the town’s 8,500 council homes to a registered social landlord.
But they will not decide whether or not to implement the second stage of the consultation – a ballot of tenants – until negotiations with the government over a write-off of the council’s £45 million housing debt are resolved.
Deputy leader of the council Keith Bland (pictured) said: “We have added a caveat that will enable us to reconsider our options before we go to a ballot of tenants.”
If the debt is not written off, either the new landlord – the re-constituted Golden Gates Housing – will have to take it on and generate surpluses to service the loan, or the council itself will have to service the loan from general funds.
The outcome of the first stage of the consultation will be reported to the council’s executive board on October 19.
Councillors have been warned there could be other obstacles to a successful transfer going ahead.
The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) wants the new landlord to adopt the Decent Homes Standard, which is actually lower than the Warrington Standard.
Warrington wants a 20 per cent uplift in management costs to provided improved services to tenants, but the HCA favours 10 per cent.
Both these issues significantly reduce the attractiveness of a transfer from the tenants point of view – and the transfer can only go ahead if tenants vote in favour of it.
Although a survey earlier this year indicated that 80 per cent were happy with the services they receive from GGH, another more recent independent survey suggested that only 57 per cent were in favour, 24 per cent had no opinion either way, 16 per cent needed more information and three per cent totally against stock transfer.
Local campaigner John Mulhall – himself a Golden Gates tenant – says there is a growing number of tenants who will not vote for the transfer and will refuse to sign new tenancy agreements.
He wanted the council the defer the transfer consultation for three months pending a review of the financing of council housing nationally, recently announced by the government.