West Northamptonshire Council is evaluating significant changes to the management of social housing in the region, particularly concerning Northamptonshire Partnership Homes (NPH). The council’s scrutiny panel will meet on October 20 to discuss the next steps following a report that highlighted “serious failings” in NPH’s adherence to home safety and quality standards. This new evaluation comes after a very solid public comment period. Almost 2,700 tenants and leaseholders told us about their experiences in the current system of social housing management.
Northamptonshire Partnership Homes run just over 11,500 social homes, including houses at Alliston Gardens in Northampton. The organization runs within an annual budget of £67 million and directly employs about 350 people. Recent discoveries have pointed to profound questions surrounding the safety and quality of these homes. The council have therefore decided they would like to assert more control and take management of these properties back ‘in-house’.
The public consultation revealed widespread support for a reversal. An extraordinary 60% of respondents supported the proposal to move landlord services away from NPH and to West Northamptonshire Council. By comparison, less than 1 in 10 said they were against making this change. This overwhelming support shows the community’s deep longing for accountability and an end to the unmanaged and unmonitored nature of social housing. That need is especially acute considering the report’s findings.
West Northamptonshire Council’s cabinet stated earlier this year that it was planning to retake control of social housing run by NPH. Register now The council accepts all liability for making sure installations will pass safety inspections. It promises to provide sufficient compliance and enforcement support for tenants residing in these homes. Overall, this transition seeks to provide a higher standard of living conditions for residents and mitigate the deficiency issues reported.
As part of this process, the scrutiny panel will assess the implications of transferring management back to the council during their upcoming meeting. Following our workshop discussion, we’ll be taking the NPH scheme to the council’s cabinet in November for approval. This meeting has the potential to result in meaningful policy reforms and paradigm shifts.
