Sheffield Homes has become the first three-star arm’s-length management organisation in the North of England.

It is only the sixth ALMO to get the three stars from the Audit Commission, which will allow it access to more government funds. Eight councils have three stars.

The extra £285m for Sheffield Homes will be used to improve 29,000 homes in Foxhill, Brightside, Parsons Cross, Herries, and the central, south-western and south-eastern areas of the city.

Professor Tony Crook, chairman of Sheffield Homes’ board of directors, said: “We will not be complacent, and we will work hard to maintain this very high standard and get our investment programme under way, starting in January.”

Sheffield council has revealed that it will submit a bid for a further £200m to the ODPM to cover other areas of the city where tenants have only recently been asked to vote for ALMO or transfer.

Tenants of north Sheffield, Gleadless and south Sheffield opted for an ALMO, while Manor, Castle and Woodthorpe, along with Darnall, Tinsley and Burngreave, chose a mix of ALMO and transfer.

Sheffield Homes now manages 46,000 homes.

Isobel Riley, the council’s director of area management, said the ALMO’s main target was reaching the 2010 decency standard. “We’ve been starved of investment for years but it is achievable,” she said.

She said the mix of transfer and ALMO would be a challenge, with the potential for communities to look over “the invisible boundary and say ‘when is it our turn?’”.

Source

Housing Today