Four East Kent Councils have announced today (Oct 01) that they have taken direct ownership of 17,000 homes across the region, as well as staff from East Kent Housing.
The councils, that have taken responsibility of the homes from EKH, are Canterbury City Council, Dover District Council, Folkestone & Hythe District Council and Thanet District Council.
The decision to break up EKH was prompted by a series of health and safety failings discovered at some of the properties that EKH was managing on behalf of the councils in May last year.
In a joint statement, Canterbury City Council Chief Executive Colin Carmichael, Dover District Council Chief Executive Nadeem Aziz, Folkestone & Hythe District Council Head of Paid Service Dr Susan Priest and Thanet District Council Chief Executive Madeline Homer said:
“The idea of taking council housing back in house was overwhelmingly backed by those tenants and leaseholders who took part in a comprehensive consultation last year.
“All four councils are determined to put the needs of tenants and leaseholders at the heart of the four housing services that have been established as evidenced by the creation of an extra 70 frontline posts.
“We want them to see real improvements to the service they receive and the way their homes are managed.
“We realise this is not a magic wand and it will not solve every problem overnight. This incredibly complex project is just the start of the journey and there is a lot of hard work ahead of us.”
