And Some More Advice

It’s not easy to follow the ins and outs of the resolutions and proposed amendments, and I’m not sure what the legal advice said or what the final agenda is, but my thinking would be along the following lines.

The government and council have decided to wind up the TMO and close down the contract. My judgement would be that there is little that can be done about this and the reputation of the TMO is so damaged that it will be difficult to get public support for anything else. I understand that winding up might also have the majority support of residents but I have no way if judging this. However, the timing and method of winding up the TMO is all-important and I agree with the concerns expressed that it seems to be being done with undue haste and with insufficient thought – and inadequate consultation. These are the preconditions for a bad decision.

The principle of strong tenant engagement in housing management in the borough is very well established and pre-dates the ALMO status, and the borough should be seeking to preserve this. There is no reason why K&C could not take the management of its housing stock back in-house. This has been done by many authorities, including Hammersmith and Fulham and Brent (currently), where an in-house housing department has had to be re-established. I suspect this will be the preferred option for the majority of tenants: given what has happened, their views must be heard and must be the single most important factor in deciding what to do. It should then be open for debate what kind of relationship there is between the borough and tenants: there are many models for tenant engagement and there could be a genuine consultation on the best model for K&C. The borough will be avoiding its responsibilities to residents if it does not now take and keep direct political control over the management of its housing – with the political imperative of putting things right. It would be unforgiveable if the council now started acting in direct contradiction of tenants’ preferences for the future.

Whoever takes over the management of the stock will inherit the current staff – they are protected under the TUPE regulations – and any issues with current staff will have be resolved whatever option is chosen.  

There is plenty of experience available to the council to enable them to take the stock back in house. The current interim manager of the TMO, Elaine Elkington, has experience of both setting up an ALMO and of directly managed housing departments and could easily be asked to manage the transition back to a housing department. I also understand that the council is currently being managed by the experienced Barry Quirk and has the involvement of Chris Wood, both of whom know a lot about managing this kind of transition. 

It is worrying if the council is talking to housing associations about handing over the stock and wholly inappropriate if this is happening quietly. I don’t know which are involved but I think this option is wholly unsuitable in the current circumstances after the tragedy. None of the associations likely to be involved have a strong enough track record of resident management and any such arrangement would remove the direct political link between residents and the council. The option of involving more than one association, and dividing the stock, might be the worst of all worlds. Any such discussions should be open and transparent – which associations are involved, and the brief for the conversations, should be public. TMO Residents must be fully involved in any discussion about the future and the council should also accept the principle of a full TMO resident ballot on any option that emerges.

It would therefore seem to me that tenants with a vote at the AGM should support deferral on the grounds that decisions are being made hastily and without proper consultation with the wider body of residents. This would also seem the wrong time to be removing the right of members to vote on essential matters and to pass total control to the council. If the resolutions succeed, K&C should be pressed to set up a resident liaison and consultative body.