Re: “Treasury and ODPM demand £1.5bn savings from councils and RSLs” (16 July, page 8). From this and similar articles, would I be right in thinking that:

  • arm’s-length management can, at best, be only a temporary solution, since after 2008 any arm’s-length management organisations will be forced to sell their stock to survive – in other words, they are but one stage of the government’s plan to get out of the social housing market altogether?
  • there is to be no new council housing built, only homes built for private enterprise or registered social landlords?
  • consequent to the above, is it not now demonstrated that there was never any honest intention to offer choice to tenants, and that the whole process of consultation has been nothing more than the creation and maintenance of an illusion?

Are the Treasury and ODPM really saying that, unless tenants do what the government wants, they will be condemned to living in squalor and deprivation?

And where does all this leave the duty of care of the landlord to ensure that tenants live in habitable homes?