The following are summaries of selected local authority inspection reports issued by the Audit Commission during July.
East Durham Homes
ALMO: Two-star good service with excellent prospects for improvement.
The inspection report notes that the ALMO has made it is easy for people to access high quality services and a wide range of housing support and benefit advice helps vulnerable people in the community. Strong leadership has transformed the culture of the organisation and services should continue to improve.
It also comments that 90% of homes do not meet the Government's Decent Homes standard and more work is required to make homes more energy efficient, affordable to heat and sustainable. Also, performance in dealing with complaints and recovering some debts is weak.
East Durham Homes is an arm's length management organisation (ALMO) which manages approximately 8,600 former Easington District Council homes on behalf of Durham County Council.
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Enfield Homes
ALMO: Two-star good service with promising prospects for improvement.
The inspectors found a number of positive features of the service, including:
However, there are also some issues that still need to be addressed, including:
Enfield Homes is an arm's length management organisation (ALMO), which was set up in 2008 and manages around 16,000 homes for rent on behalf of London Borough of Enfield.
Registered social landlord inspection reports issued by the Audit Commission during July included the following:
Leeds Federated Housing Association
Housing Services: One-star fair service with promising prospects for improvement.
Strengths identified by inspectors include:
To help the service improve, inspectors made a number of recommendations. These include:
Leeds Federated Housing Association operates in Harrogate, Wakefield and Leeds. A quarter of the Association's stock is situated within the most deprived 5% of communities in England. It was set up in 1974 when a number of small associations merged.
