Letter from Folkestone and Hythe District Council to East Kent Homes Tenants

Future options for managing council housing

Council homes are currently looked after by East Kent Housing on our behalf. They carry out safety checks, manage repairs, collect rent etc.

Earlier this year we discovered serious problems with a range of safety checks at some properties looked after by East Kent Housing. We are sorry if that caused you to worry.

We are pleased to say we have made an enormous amount of progress in fixing those problems.

To make sure the same thing does not happen again, we have asked a range of experts to look into what went wrong.

We have also looked at how we should manage our council housing in the future.

We have come up with four options:

Option 1: Keep East Kent Housing and improve the way they work

Option 2: Close East Kent Housing and create a team at each council to look after your home

Option 3: Close East Kent Housing and work with nearby councils to look after your home

Option 4: Ask an outside organisation such as a housing association to look after your home

We think Option 2 is the best way forward which means closing East Kent Housing leaving council staff to look after your home instead.

The advantages and disadvantages that we see of each way of doing things is explained in this information sheet.

We want to know what you think about our proposal and would ask you to spend a couple of minutes taking part in our survey.

Consultation will run until Friday 20 December. Councillors will then consider all the feedback received and make a decision on the best way forward early in 2020.

If you want to find out more or have a chat about our proposals before making up your mind, we are holding some drop-in events:

• Thursday 7 November, 11am to 2pm: Communal Lounge, Win Pine House, Lyell Close, Hythe, CT21 5JD

• Saturday 9 November, 10am to 1pm: All Souls Church Hall, Somerset Road, Cheriton, CT19 4NW

• Wednesday 20 November, 3pm to 6pm: Assembly Rooms, Church Approach, New Romney, TN28 8AS

• Wednesday 4 December, 3pm to 6pm: The Salvation Army, 75-77 Canterbury Road, Folkestone, CT19 6BG