Tenants’ champion quits board

A long-standing champion of council housing has stepped down from the board of First Choice Homes Oldham.

Oldham councillor Peter Dean, a chairman of the former Housing Committee who helped to set up Oldham Housing Aid Centre, has quit because he disagrees with the direction the organisation is taking.

FCHO — which manages all Oldham’s 12,500 council houses — is set to become a housing association, also known as a registered social landlord, after a tenants’ consultation approved the idea.

But Councillor Dean, a former mayor of Oldham, said there should be more than one choice for tenants.

He said: “I’ve no objection to the housing stock being changed to a housing association, but there really should be a competition and tenants should have a choice.

“We have only one option, and in my experience a suggestion based around local authority properties is very difficult to get external finance, whereas existing housing associations may be in a better position to do that.

“I really think there should be competition. I have nothing against FCHO, but I think tenants should have a choice and I could not fully support this.”

Councillor Dean admitted it would be hard to step down after his many years associated with housing, which include helping to set up the Oldham single homeless project, Threshold, and Oldham Housing Aid Centre as well as First Choice Homes.