Please see the article below, and I wish to stress the extreme importance of this article on ALMO’s regarding the {National Federation of ALMO’S who manage over a million properties in the Country} their proposal’s for future intentions.
Dr B.S. Potter ILA Chairman
*****************************************
Community ownership models for ALMOs ‘could raise new resources’
Published by Ross Macmillan for 24dash.com in Housing
Friday 26th November 2010 – 3:50pm
Here, Gwyneth Taylor, Policy Director at the National Federation of ALMOs, outlines the work the federation is developing which could raise new resources.
“The National Federation of ALMOs is currently working on a project, due to be published next year, which aims to develop proposals that would build on the current, successful ALMO model, creating a new form of organisation accountable to the community, and which could raise new resources.
“Three potential models are being developed to enable additional, private sector, off-balance-sheet financing by ALMOs by securing their reclassification as private, non-profit corporations, while retaining the strong element of partnership with the local authority. They are:
- Model 1 – Long-term management agreement – is based on the ALMO having a much longer contract and on the local authority having a one-third (rather than sole) interest in the ALMO’s ownership.
- Model 2 – Long-term management and transfer of some vacant properties – is based on model 1, but with the ALMO also gradually building an asset base through transfer of void properties and vacant land.
- Model 3 – Transfer to a Council and Community Organisation (CoCo) – represents a more fundamental change both in the ALMO’s constitution and in the fact that it would become the owner of the stock, but on a different basis to current stock transfers.
At present, this project represents work in progress and we have yet to discuss the detail with the local authority and tenant representative bodies. However, we are hopeful that by next year we will have developed some possible structures that all build on and extend the accountability of ALMOs to tenants and communities, as well as maintaining a strong link to the local authority, and will offer to councils, tenants and ALMOs a wider range of options for investing in the future of the housing stock.