Plans Published For Improved Housing Service

Council tenants in Dover District could benefit from an improved housing service if proposals published today get the go ahead.

The proposals outline a unique project that would see Canterbury, Dover District, Shepway and Thanet councils jointly managing council housing in East Kent. Sharing the service is expected to deliver improvements for tenants and bring savings, which would be re-invested into council housing services.

Proposals for an East Kent Shared Housing Service are due to go before lead councillors from the four authorities on Friday 18 December. If the proposals are agreed, in the new year, each council will be asked to invite their tenants to give their views about setting up a non-profit making local authority company model, similar to an arms length management organisation (known as ALMOs), which would be owned by the four councils.

Similar models have been successfully tried out in other parts of the country. Around 70 councils have set up ALMOs to manage their council housing and a large number of these arrangements have seen significant improvements in the standard of service received by tenants.

This is the first time that four local authorities have come together to put their housing services into one arms length organisation. In East Kent, it is estimated that the service could save up to £1.5 million over the next five years across the four councils, which would be reinvested in council housing services and cannot be used to pay for other council services.

The new organisation would also give tenants and leaseholders much greater involvement and decision making in the management of the services provided to them. Tenants will have an important role in helping to shape the plans and it is proposed that tenants would make up a third of the Board that would run the new organisation. Ideas of how this will happen are already being discussed by the councils with the Joint Tenants and Leaseholders Group. This is made up of tenants' and leaseholders' representatives from the four different areas.

The project is now going forward to be considered by the East Kent Joint Arrangements Committee, which meets on Friday 18 December. This committee is made up of lead councillors from each of the authorities involved. The proposals will then go to each of the councils for their formal approval. At the end of this process, an extensive consultation with all council tenants in East Kent will be held, to gauge their views on the plans, before any final decision is made.

The proposals are part of the wider East Kent shared services agenda, which aims to provide cost effective services across East Kent and make the best possible use of the councils' resources and staff expertise.

Cllr Sue Chandler, DDC Cabinet Member for Community, Housing and Youth said: "These important proposals are about continuing to improve services that we offer to our tenants and leaseholders, with the aim of providing a three star service. Working together will also produce savings, which can be put back into improving services even further. We are working hard to give tenants a stronger role in shaping their housing services for the future."