A housing ALMO is a company set up by a local authority to manage and improve all or part of its housing stock. The local authority remains the landlord and tenants remain secure tenants of the authority. An ALMO does not trade for profit and is managed by a board of directors comprising council nominees, elected tenants and independents.
In 2002, the Government decided that councils pursuing the ALMO option could secure additional capital funding if the ALMO received at least an overall ‘good’ (two star) rating from the Audit Commission for the services it delivered for the Council. This government requirement was in place until November 2010. Between September 2002 and that date the Commission carried out 145 ALMO inspections and reinspections. By 31 March 2011, 67 ALMO councils had achieved at least two stars in inspection and, as a result, had accessed approximately £6 billion in additional supported borrowing to deliver Decent Homes.
ALMOs were reinspected to see if they had maintained, or reached, a two star standard of service provision. From April 2010 the Tenant Services Authority (TSA) became the regulator for local authorities including ALMOs.
The Audit Commission published guidance for ALMO inspections.