Housing office shut thanks to projected £10m overspend

Housing office shut thanks to projected £10m overspend

12:30pm Thursday 30th October 2008

Norwood housing office is to shut as Lambeth Council tries to make up a projected £10m overspend by its housing department.

Only three housing offices are to remain in the borough - in Streatham, Brixton and Kennington Lane as a raft of cuts are implemented by Lambeth Living as officers try to balance the books.

The details of £2.5m worth of cuts were also revealed and approved by the council's Arms Length Management Organisation (Almo) at its board meeting on October 22.

The cuts are expected to cause a number of tenant management organisations - who manage Lambeth's council estates - to collapse as their funding is dramatically reduced.

Planned maintenance work will also be postponed where possible with exterior painting works, a decorations scheme for accommodation for the elderly, the replacement of out of date gas fires, and improvement of communal boilers all stopped.

The exterior decoration of the Valley Road estate in Streatham Common has also been delayed, despite police saying the state of neglect has contributed to antisocial behaviour on the estate.

Planned exterior work on the Tulse Hill estate will also be cancelled.

To help meet a £1m cut in its management fee from Lambeth Council, the Almo also plans to axe 24 staff and another 24 are anticipated to volunteer to leave, with further job losses expected.

The council hopes to balance the rest of its overspend through a double rent rise, of up to 14 per cent, which will hit tenants next April.