You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
The Week in Housing: are social landlords getting any better?
A weekly round-up of the most important headlines for housing professionals
A weekly round-up of the most important headlines for housing professionals #UKhousingGood afternoon.
The past two years have put social housing landlords in the spotlight like never before.
From thousands of leaseholders bemoaning the actions of their housing associations in relation to the building safety crisis, to the ITV News investigation that exposed poor housing management and repairs services for many social housing tenants, the scrutiny has been unprecedented.
Speak to anyone in the sector and they will say all of this has had an impact on how their organisations act. They will say it has brought a sharper focus on these issues and caused them to reflect on repairs services, the size of housing officer patches and, most importantly, how they can better communicate with tenants.
But has this change in attitude led to a change on the ground yet?
Read more
Housing legal aid ‘deserts’ revealed as more than half of councils in England left without provision
This week has thrown up another string of stories that shows that in some cases things have not been changing, as we continue to see high-level issues.
On Friday last week, we revealed that faulty record-keeping led Incommunities to mistakenly record 1,800 homes as breaching the Decent Homes Standard.
Wednesday saw Essex MP Mark Francois lambast G15 landlord Notting Hill Genesis for what he described as a “tin-eared” approach to fire safety of a block in his constituency.
Yesterday, we reported on the umpteenth severe maladministration judgement from the Housing Ombudsman in recent weeks. Johnnie Johnson Housing was hit with three severe maladministration penalties due to bad record-keeping and complaint-handling failures.
Today, we were reminded of how bad it can get. Croydon Council announced it is weighing up plans to either drastically refurbish or demolish the Regina Road Estate – the development that prompted ITV’s investigation.
The estate had people living in awful conditions and it was labelled by the documentary as among the “worst housing in Britain”.
This is not a one-off. The stories in Inside Housing this week are similar to those published on other weeks.
While these high-profile cases seem to indicate things are getting worse, what do the stats say?
A recent analysis of statistical data returns by Inside Housing found that social landlords’ housing stock is generally in good condition – in particular housing association stock, with only 0.3% being non-decent, which is a slight improvement on the 0.4% posted last year.
Council stock is in worse condition, with 8% non-decent last year and no figures for this year.
But decent homes is not the best indicator for level of service. The proof is in the pudding of the experiences of tenants. While the majority have a great experience of living in their social homes, there is still too much consternation and poor service provision on show.
Hopefully, the Social Housing Bill will improve some of this.
Elsewhere, it has been an eventful close to the Grenfell Inquiry this week, including news that former staff from the social housing body responsible for the management of Grenfell Tower are being investigated by the police for serious criminal offences relating to the fire.
You can read the inquiry round-up from Peter Apps here.
We also saw the appointment of yet another housing minister, with South Cambridgeshire MP Lucy Frazer taking up the mantle. After her three predecessors lasted an average of 84 days, Ms Frazer will be hoping for a slightly longer stay. At least until Christmas.
Inside Housing has published an analysis on her political career so far and her approach to housing.
Jack Simpson, assistant editor (news and investigations)
Editor’s picks: five must-read stories
Social housing and the metaverse: a future vision
Bristol Council to strip non-ACM cladding from 38 high rises after blaze at tower block
Government needs to ‘look again’ at personal evacuation plans for disabled people, Gove says
Sign up for our Week in Housing newsletter
Already have an account? Click here to manage your newsletters
Related stories
