Commission of inquiry will work with tenants and councillors to map out the way ahead
Birmingham council has set up an independent commission of inquiry to assess the future of its council housing after its unexpected stock transfer defeat last month.

The commission will examine the council's options for meeting the decent homes standard and review the investment needs for Birmingham city council housing.

The decision to set up the inquiry was prompted by the collapse of the stock transfer campaign, which would have seen ownership of the city's 80,000 council homes transferred to a housing association and the council's £600m housing debt written off by the government.

Chaired by Dr Anne Power, professor of social policy and director of the housing faculty at the London School of Economics, the inquiry will work alongside two separate advisory panels made up of tenants and councillors respectively.

"Birmingham is in a crucial position in the whole national debate on cities and the future of council housing," Power said.

Council leader Albert Bore said: "Given the heat generated by the housing stock transfer debate, we needed arrangements for the commission whereby tenants and politicians who had been for or against transfer would be able to make a full contribution to the way forward."

Acting as "guardians of the process", the two advisory panels will have four core functions:

  • to provide comments and advice to the commission
  • to consider its findings and conclusions
  • to be a reference point in seeking the views of tenants and councillors
  • to form a key part of the commission's consultative structure.

Six council tenants, nominated by the city housing liaison board, will be present on the panel, together with two Birmingham housing association tenants, who will be nominated by the Birmingham Social Housing Partnership.

The council panel will include the new cabinet member for housing, Sandra Jenkinson, and comprise 17 councillors.

But despite its intentions, Mark Weeks, national coordinator of Defend Council Housing, remained sceptical about the panels. He said: "While I like the idea of a commission, I think that they should be giving evidence to a commission of tenants and councillors. There is a question of who the tenants will be. And why are there tenants from housing associations on the board? People in Birmingham are not happy about this."

The first meeting is due in June, with the inquiry presenting a report to the cabinet in November.

Source

Housing Today