The Week in Housing: government’s ‘underwhelming and overwhelming’ response to final Grenfell report

There will be a review of the governance and oversight of tenant management organisations and ALMOs.

A green paper was published on reforms to the construction products regime. It proposes to address gaps in regulatory coverage and make all manufacturers responsible for assessing the safety risks associated with their products before they are marketed. You can read what we learned from the green paper here.

The government also revealed its intention to investigate the seven suppliers named in the Grenfell report as part of new powers brought in by the Procurement Act 2023.

As part of its response to the government’s recommendations, the sector said “the proof will be in the delivery and the detail”.

The Grenfell United group of survivors and bereaved families said the government’s response has made the group feel “frustrated”. 

“We need to see real, tangible safety changes – not another list of consultations, reviews and delays,” the group said.

The government’s reforms in response to Grenfell will be implemented in a phased approach that will not see much practical change until at least 2028.

Meanwhile, the National Fire Chiefs Council has warned that inspecting mid-rise buildings for safety issues could take up to 24 years and cost £609m.

The homelessness minister made another policy intervention this week and revealed that Awaab’s Law will be extended to temporary accommodation.

Awaab’s Law, named after two-year-old Awaab Ishak, who died from prolonged exposure to mould in a housing association flat, will force landlords to respond to hazards within strict timeframes.

Bringing temporary accommodation under the new legislation came as the Housing Ombudsman highlighted how inspection failures by 16 landlords are leaving children exposed to damp and mould.

The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) published its latest Quarterly Survey. It showed that housing providers spent 21.9% more on building and acquiring new homes compared with the previous quarter, but planned spending is now at its lowest level since the start of the pandemic.

In addition, the RSH handed three social landlords a non-compliant C3 grade and placed one on its gradings under review list.

A new analysis by a campaign group found more than two-thirds of tribunal cases in 2024 reduced or removed service charges.

Over the past two years, questions have been raised in a number of reports on the affordability of shared ownership and it is an issue that has been talked about in sector conference sessions.

A report published last year called for “urgent” reforms to shared ownership after an inquiry found that uncapped service charges, rising rents and unfair maintenance costs meant the tenure was unaffordable. Changes included housing providers being more transparent with the information provided to shared owners and making certain processes, such as staircasing, cheaper and easier to achieve.

This week, a judge ruled that a landlord must accept the valuation obtained by a shared owner in his attempt to staircase to full ownership of the property.

There was some good news to come out of Northern Ireland in that the number of households on the social housing waiting list has dipped slightly, alongside a decrease in homelessness acceptances.

Another big story in Northern Ireland was how the lack of wastewater infrastructure is holding up thousands of social homes.

A report revealed that thousands of families across Scotland are “devastated” by the prospect of being stuck in overcrowded, insecure and expensive homes for many years as a result of the housing emergency.

This report came as a survey found that more than 40% of adults in Scotland think their local authority is currently doing too little to tackle empty homes in their area.

In England, around 300,000 social housing properties became void in 2023-24. This is at a time when the number for people sleeping rough has increased by 20% in one year.

An interesting partnership was announced between a large city council, a major energy firm and a tech start-up to pilot a thermal camera drone heat-mapping scheme on more than 4,000 homes.

At the same time, one council leader threatened to end its repairs and maintenance contract with Morgan Sindall Property Services more than five years early.

Inside Housing published a number of features and investigations in the past seven days. This started with a look at the top 20 organisations bringing in the most revenue from temporary accommodation.

With housing providers in England spending record amounts on repairs and maintenance, our annual Repairs Tracker revealed who is spending what and why.

Following a new report by a non-profit housing provider that focused on a financially precarious community of older LGBTQ+ people in London, Inside Housing looked at what the lessons are for all social landlords.

Finally, we flicked through newly released photographs from Stonewall Housing that tell its fascinating history of supporting the LGBTQ+ community for four decades.

Have a great weekend.

Stephen Delahunty, news editor, Inside Housing

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