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The government must set deadlines for the re-housing of survivors displaced by the Grenfell Tower fire and for the remediation of private blocks found to have Grenfell-style cladding, the shadow housing minister has said.
Labour’s shadow housing secretary John Healey said that “it was a matter of deep shame” that survivors still didn’t live in permanent homes 18 months on from the fire.
In a letter to housing secretary James Brokenshire, Mr Healey said: “It is shocking that one in four survivors are still not in permanent new homes. It should not be beyond the capacity of the national government of a country of 27 million households to find acceptable accommodation for just 203 households who have suffered an unimaginable trauma.”
Of the 203 surviving households, 54 are still without permanent homes and are living in temporary accommodation, hotels, serviced apartments or with family.
Mr Healey also said it was “unacceptable” that there was no plan in place for many privately owned buildings clad in aluminium composite material cladding similar to that found on Grenfell.
Figures released by the government today show that “plans remain unclear” for 69 of the 272 privately owned buildings with Grenfell-style cladding.
Mr Healey said: “It is clear that the pace of remediation is too slow, in parts of the social sector, but especially in the private sector.”
Last week the government announced it would provide financial support for local authorities to remove flammable cladding from privately owned buildings.
Mr Healey said the government must now set firm deadlines for when all survivors will have a permanent home and all buildings will have replaced dangerous cladding.
He also asked how much funding the government has set aside for local authorities to take action against private landlords who have failed to take action on cladding, and questioned whether councils would be given expanded powers to carry out this responsibility.
A Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government spokesperson said: “The government remains committed to ensuring all survivors of the Grenfell Tower tragedy are re-housed as quickly as possible.
“Every household has had an offer of accommodation, and 99% of the 201 households have now accepted an offer.
“Nothing is more important than making sure people are safe in their homes, and we have set up a robust building safety programme, making clear to building owners and developers that they must replace dangerous cladding as soon as possible.”
A spokesperson from Kensington and Chelsea Council told Inside Housing that the council did not want to set arbitrary deadlines for when all survivors should be in permanent homes as this approach has been unhelpful in the past and puts unnecessary stress on survivors.
In the days following the Grenfell Tower fire on 14 June 2017, Inside Housing launched the Never Again campaign to call for immediate action to implement the learning from the Lakanal House fire, and a commitment to act – without delay – on learning from the Grenfell Tower tragedy as it becomes available.
One year on, we have extended the campaign asks in the light of information that has emerged since.
Here are our updated asks:
GOVERNMENT
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
LANDLORDS