COUNCIL HOPES GENTOO WILL RESOLVE ISSUES
A spokesman for Sunderland City Council said: “As the local housing authority, the city council has regular dealings with Gentoo, which is the city’s largest registered provider of social housing, but it has no control over Gentoo’s day-to-day and internal operations. “It wants to see Gentoo resolve internal issues and work with it so that tenants can retain full confidence in their landlord. “In addition, as the city’s largest housing provider, the council wants Gentoo to continue its key role in developing, upgrading and securing further housing opportunities for Sunderland.” Niall Hodson, leader of the Liberal Democrat group on Sunderland City Council, said: “This judgement makes for really alarming reading, and it’s clear that urgent changes are required in the way that Gentoo is run. “The report makes particular criticism of Gentoo’s governance arrangements and a lack of scrutiny and oversight. “Perhaps the most damning indictment from the HCA is that “weak governance” has led to exorbitant executive contracts and pay-offs, with the board simply waving these things through. “It is not acceptable for a social housing provider to be so inadequately managed.” Conservative leader on the council, Coun Robert Oliver said: “As the main social housing company in Sunderland it will be a concern to tenants that Gentoo has been downgraded in this way, and clearly the leadership of the company has been too weak in regard to severance payments. “It is also unacceptable that some homes managed by Gentoo in the city do not meet the Decent Homes standard and questions must also be asked about the role of the council’s representatives on the board.”