Published on Wednesday 11 May 2022
Tenants and leaseholders living in council housing across the area are set to benefit from a new local authority service, called ‘BCP Homes’ that manages all council housing stock across Bournemouth and Poole.
On 10 May 2022 full council approved the formation of a single council housing service delivered inhouse by BCP Council with an advisory board to provide expertise, advice and resident knowledge.
Following the decision, the council will now end the current agreement with Poole Housing Partnership (PHP) who currently manage Poole council housing stock, and a new single in-house service to manage council housing across Bournemouth and Poole will be established by BCP Council from 1 July 2022.
Councillor Karen Rampton, Portfolio Holder for People and Homes, said: "I’m delighted that the new BCP Homes service has been approved and we can now progress our plans. By creating one service it gives the opportunity to bring best practice and expertise from both PHP and Bournemouth’s housing team and engage with and enable our residents to be at the heart of shaping the new service, now, and in the future.
"In leading up to this decision, we have been working very closely with tenants, leaseholders, staff and other stakeholders throughout this process, including carrying out a 12-week public consultation to hear all feedback on our proposals. This has been really important to ensure that we develop a service model that best meets the needs of our tenants and leaseholders as well as aligning with the council’s transformation plans to improve, modernise and make our services more efficient."
Chair of PHP Board, Rob Webber, said: "PHP has managed the council’s homes across Poole for more than15 years. With the help of our residents, we have delivered an award- winning service that by external comparison also represents excellent value for money. This decision preludes the end of that era with the service being taken back into BCP Council. The PHP Board’s hope is that this excellent service will be continued to all current and future residents and communities not just in Poole but across the wider conurbation."
Council housing in the Bournemouth area is currently managed in-house by BCP Council, whilst in Poole it is managed by Poole Housing Partnership (PHP) an Arm’s Length Management Organisation (ALMO) although the council owns the homes and holds ultimate responsibility for the housing stock.
The council owns approximately 9,500 properties that make up its social housing stock and services to these are funded and managed through its Housing Revenue Account (HRA). These homes are situated across multiple wards and deliver general need, sheltered and extra care homes, as well as some shared ownership properties. There are also a further 1,139 leasehold homes that fall within the management responsibility of the HRA. There are no council owned properties in Christchurch as these were transferred to a Housing Association many years ago.