{"id":617831,"date":"2023-03-14T10:03:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-14T15:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sellorbuyhomefast.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/14\/liverpool-councils-housing-company-failed-due-to-lack-of-strategic-direction\/"},"modified":"2023-03-14T10:03:00","modified_gmt":"2023-03-14T15:03:00","slug":"liverpool-councils-housing-company-failed-due-to-lack-of-strategic-direction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2023\/03\/14\/liverpool-councils-housing-company-failed-due-to-lack-of-strategic-direction\/","title":{"rendered":"Liverpool council\u2019s housing company failed due to \u2018lack of strategic direction\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"Liverpool-cityscape-landscape-1024x683-1.jpeg\" <\/p>\n

\n

A housing company owned by Liverpool City Council failed to meet its ambitious targets due to a lack of clear strategy and robust oversight, according to a council report.<\/span><\/p>\n

Liverpool Foundation Homes built and managed 18 homes on a \u2018rent to buy\u2019 basis, although it originally aspired to build 10,000 social rented homes.<\/span><\/p>\n

The council\u2019s cabinet approved the closure of the company in October 2022. This had been recommended by an external review that followed a damning government-commissioned inspection of the whole council in 2021.<\/span><\/p>\n

Liverpool then carried out a \u201clessons learnt\u201d investigation for Foundation, involving interviews and workshops with people involved.<\/span><\/p>\n

It found that the company\u2019s original outline business plan \u201cgenerated high expectations that in the end were difficult to meet due to the lack of strategic direction and the need for the council to carefully manage the funding going into the company and individual projects\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

The report says Foundation was created \u201cwithout a clear policy strategy\u201d and \u201cwithout robust delivery and business plans to guide how the company would meet its defined objectives\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

The firm\u2019s outline business case was developed by external consultants \u201con unrealistic assumptions and insufficient understanding of the Liverpool context\u201d, according to the findings of the investigation.<\/span><\/p>\n

An indicative provision of \u00a3350m was included for Foundation in the council\u2019s housing capital programme. But \u201cthere was no business case behind the allocation to determine how and where the money should be spent\u201d, and it was later removed.<\/span><\/p>\n

When Foundation was set up, \u201cdue process was largely set to one side\u201d, with council officers rapidly seconded to it \u201cwithout clarity on the role of the company, what it was expected to deliver and therefore the skills it needed\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

The report adds that there was not \u201csufficient oversight or scrutiny\u201d of Foundation within the council\u2019s decision-making process.<\/span><\/p>\n

The exercise\u2019s findings \u201cinclude the need for clear and robust policy strategies, business cases and delivery plans to create council companies to ensure alignment with council objectives, feasibility and deliverability\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

The report adds that \u201cthe allocation of investment should be based on a clear, realistic, evidence-based and strategically aligned business plan that indicates where investment is needed\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Related articles<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Read More<\/a>
\n Jonathan Knott<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A housing company owned by Liverpool City Council failed to meet its ambitious targets due to a lack of clear strategy and robust oversight, according to a council report. Liverpool Foundation Homes built and managed 18 homes on a \u2018rent to buy\u2019 basis, although it originally aspired to build 10,000 social rented homes. The council\u2019s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":617832,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66579,22723],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-617831","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-councils","8":"category-liverpool"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=617831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617831\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/617832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=617831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=617831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=617831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}