Arms-length management organisation

In the United Kingdom, an arms-length management organisation (ALMO) is a not-for-profit company that provides housing services on behalf of a local authority. Usually an ALMO is set up by the authority to manage and improve all or part of its housing stock. Ownership of the housing stock itself normally stays with the local authority. By 2010, ALMOs managed more than half of all council housing - more than 1 million homes across 65 local authority areas. This number has since reduced as local authorities have taken services back in-house or stock has been transferred. In 2016 there were 37 ALMOs, managing nearly a third of local authority housing, approximately half a million council and ALMO homes. As of January 2024, further closures have reduced the number of ALMOs in England to 19, with 226,454 homes in management. The forthcoming closure of Newcastle-on-Tyne's ALMO will reduce these figures to 18 ALMOs and 198,813 homes.