The government has confirmed there will be "no fourth way" to help Camden council out of its funding crisis after tenants rejected arm's-length management (HT 16 January, page 7).
Housing minister Keith Hill was speaking on Wednesday to the ODPM select committee inquiry into the government's decent homes standard.

He said: "There are three options available – transfer, PFI and ALMO. "This has not changed in the light of recent events in Camden. My advice to the council and tenants was to look at these options again.

"There will be no so-called 'fourth way'."

But Camden's director of housing, Neil Litherland, said it was unrealistic to expect tenants to accept stock transfer or private finance after rejecting arm's-length management.

"I would be disappointed if [Hill] said we had to put the remaining options to tenants," he said. "It would open up the government and council to embarrassment."

Litherland thought tenants were unlikely to vote for the council's second-round PFI housing scheme on the Maiden Lane estate. If tenants there reject it, having rejected the ALMO, he said it would be "a waste of public money" to go for a transfer on the estate.

Source

Housing Today