This week has seen two extremes of council housing on show. Flying the flag for excellence in management is Derby.
It has received its second three star rating from the Audit Commission. To put this in perspective, only one other council, Wigan, has gained three stars for housing.

Derby has an arm's-length management organisation. Its performance ought to both provide good practice guidance to others, and silence those who claim that council housing is a service whose time has gone.

But the sector also needs to recognise and learn from poor performance.

Hull this week has the unenviable distinction of being the first council where the commission believes the housing service to be so appalling that government intervention is needed.

This should be used to assist the city's new administration to rescue the service, not as a way to strip the council of this responsibility.

Source

Housing Today