a brief history of homes for haringey

Haringey Council (like all other councils) must make sure that all its homes meet the government’s Decent Homes standard. This means getting homes into a good state of repair, properly heating and insulating them and making sure that the kitchens and bathrooms are reasonably modern.

A task of this size needs huge funding, so in early 2004, the council set up an independent, resident-led steering group to look at the best way of getting the extra money.

Six months later, and after detailed investigation of all the options, the steering group recommended that the council should keep its homes, but set up an arms length management organisation (ALMO) for the day to day running of the homes.

An ALMO would manage the smooth running of council housing, whilst the council would remain the landlord.

Setting up an ALMO would allow Haringey to bid for substantial additional funding from the government to bring its homes up to the Decent Homes standard.

The council agreed the steering group’s recommendations in January 2005.

In March and April 2005 the council held a ballot, asking all tenants and leaseholders to vote on whether they wanted an ALMO. Almost 60 per cent of tenants and 48 per cent of leaseholders voted ‘yes’ to an ALMO.

Homes for Haringey took over management of Haringey Council’s 21,000 homes in April 2006.