What are the options?

An important part of appraising options for the future financing, ownership and management of Durham County Council homes is reaching an agreement with tenants, staff, Councillors and Board members on what exactly they want the council to achieve at the end of the appraisal process.

Durham County Council have talked to a lot of different groups and have agreed 8 priorities that the council will try to achieve from the option appraisal. The priorities are (in order of importance):

1. Bringing long-term funding to support the improvement and repair of high quality affordable homes
2. Protecting tenants rights
3. Delivering a good return of new social housing
4. Local presence and management of housing services
5. Meeting regeneration needs
6. Achieving comparable quality between the owning organisations and customers
7. Improving communication between the owning organisation and customers
8. Strengthening customer involvement in services

Any option that is chosen must meet these priorities, particularly in finding long-term funding to support the improvement and repair of customer’s homes. On that basis the council have identified two options that are available:

• The council will continue to own homes and stay the landlord for the long term.  If they keep their homes they will face a limit on the money they can borrow to invest in homes.  This could mean that the council may not be able to carry out improvements exactly when they are needed or be able to deliver ambitious new build and regeneration programmes.  If the council stay as the landlord they will need to make some changes to the way they deliver housing services to save money.
• The council could “transfer” ownership of the homes to a new or existing registered provider (also known as a housing association).  This would mean that Durham County Council would no longer be the landlord.  The new landlord wouldn’t face the same borrowing limits the council do and they could carry out improvements to homes and neighbourhoods when they are needed.  They could also deliver ambitious new build and regeneration programmes.

Both options would mean that Durham County Council homes will stay as social housing with a landlord who must (by law) operate as not-for-profit.

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Document Created: 19/08/2011 15:48 , last modified: 15/03/2012 16:43