SHEFFIELD Homes is in a very unusual position.
We deliver some of the best housing services in the country. Don't take my word for it. The Audit Commission inspects every housing organisation. We were the first to achieve their top 'three stars' rating twice.
Only five per cent of their 1,000 plus inspections have achieved this rating. No other housing organisation working in the city has achieved this standard.
Despite this success we are facing the prospect of reducing the staff we employ over the next two years.
Why is this?
Sheffield Homes has two main jobs: to manage the Decent Homes programme and to provide a housing management service for tenants.
Nationally council housing is under-funded. Sheffield has been closely involved with helping central government to find a solution.
Rents and the resources available to fund council housing services are fixed by national government. There is a very elaborate redistribution system that moves money round the country.
In this subsidy system Sheffield will lose about £6 million over the next three years. By 2011 Sheffield rents will subsidise tenants in other parts of the country. Currently tenants in places like Cambridge subsidise Sheffield.
A recent report by the Local Government Association and National Federation of ALMOs among others found that tenants' rents subsidise the national treasury by £196 million this year. We need a new system which is accountable and responsive to our tenants.
We have completed well over half the Decent Homes programme – with 28,237 homes already completed of the 42,000 we are responsible for.
As the programme winds down by 2010 we will need fewer staff to complete the work. We have planned for this but the impact of the economic downturn is reducing our future income more than expected.
These factors will reduce the management fee that the council pays Sheffield Homes by over £4 million in the next three years. We have built up some reserves to reduce the impact but they run out next year.
This difficult financial position was discussed fully by our board of directors last week. They endorsed the need to reduce the company's costs and raise additional income, to ensure that we balance the budget.
We have a responsibility to the board, the council and tenants of Sheffield to live within our means.
On behalf of the board and executive I would like to restate these commitments to our customers and staff.
We will complete the Decent Homes programme on budget by the government's deadline of 2010.
We will continue to strive to provide the highest quality services to the people of Sheffield.
We will leave no stone unturned to increase income or reduce expenditure.
We will work in close partnership with the council to minimize the impact on services and staff.
However we don't think we can balance the budget without staff reductions.
We took a very responsible approach by making all the staff aware of this.
Quite rightly, tenants' aspirations and expectations are rising which presents us with a challenge. We need to try to maintain and improve services when we have less money. We will be consulting our customers, staff and partners to achieve this.
If any of your readers have ideas they would like us to look at please write to me Peter Morton, Chief Executive, Sheffield Homes Ltd, PO Box 1918, Sheffield S1 2XX. I promise to reply to everyone.
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