Consultation: Returning housing management to the Council

Hackney Council is consulting on the future of social housing services in Hackney. The Council is asking its secure and introductory tenants and leaseholders to tell it if they support or oppose returning housing management services to Hackney Council from April 2016.

At the moment, a body called Hackney Homes is responsible for managing council homes in Hackney. Hackney's council homes are owned by the Council but they are run separately from Council control, by Hackney Homes. Hackney Homes collects council housing rent, and it repairs and maintains council homes.

Why the Council is Consulting

Hackney Homes was set up in 2006 to manage the improvement of tenants’ homes to meet the “Decent Homes Standard”.

The “Decent Homes Standard” applies to all housing rented from a council or housing association. In 2000, the Labour government announced that all council tenants should live in a decent home. Essentially, this meant that homes should be safe, wind- and weather-tight, warm and have reasonably modern kitchens and bathrooms. Unsurprisingly, most of the improvement to council homes was needed in the most deprived local authority areas, such as Hackney.  

To receive additional funding, councils had to consider a range of options all of which meant transferring management of council homes to another body. That is why, after consultation with residents, Hackney Council created Hackney Homes.

Hackney Homes is due to complete the improvement of Hackney's council homes to the Decent Homes Standard in 2015 and funding for this type of work is no longer dependent on having separate management of council homes, so Hackney Homes is no longer needed. This is one of the reasons why the Council feels it is right to review the existing arrangement.

Before 2006, the Council managed its own housing, providing some services directly and some through a variety of contracts. 

The outcome of the consultation will not affect any works scheduled to take place under the current Decent Homes programme or those identified as part of its successor works programme, the Hackney Investment Programme. The outcome of the consultation will not affect anyone's tenancy or lease with the Council either.

As the Council’s management contract with Hackney Homes is due to end on 31 March 2016, the Council wants to gather council tenants' and leaseholders' views on how their homes should be managed in the future.

Hackney Council and Hackney Homes' board recommend that housing management services return to the Council when the Council’s management contract with Hackney Homes ends.

How to tell the Council what you think about the proposal

Every registered Hackney Homes secure and introductory tenant and leaseholder will have been sent a letter, a questionnaire and a summary document explaining the proposal. It is important for each person who received a letter to reply by returning the questionnaire or taking part on-line.

If you wish to take part on-line, you should have received a code in your letter, allowing you to respond to the Council's on-line survey.  


You can find that survey here: https://consultation.hackney.gov.uk/hackney-homes/hhconsultation

Make sure you respond by 31 October, when the consultation will end.