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Grenfell council accuses housing associations of ‘immorality’ in new policy document
Some housing associations behave “immorally” by selling off social housing in inner London and replacing it in lower-value areas, the west London council which owns Grenfell Tower has said.
The accusation was made in a housing discussion paper published by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) this week, setting out its initial thinking about the future of housing in the borough following the Grenfell tragedy.
Kim Taylor-Smith, deputy leader of the council, named the UK’s largest housing association Clarion as one organisation that he thinks is behaving in a manner that is “completely wrong”.
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The council previously rejected Clarion’s plans to redevelop the borough’s Sutton estate in 2016 over a “net loss of social rented housing”.
Mr Taylor-Smith said there would be less social housing under the redevelopment and that this “morally is wrong”.
A spokesperson for Clarion called on the council to substantiate the claim that it was behaving immorally.
He said: “There is absolutely no truth to this allegation.”
When asked to provide before and after figures for the number of social rented homes on the site, a spokesperson for Clarion said it could not comment publicly on the scheme because it has been called in by the secretary of state. Figures it has released publicly state that all 203 existing social housing residents will be re-housed on site, retaining their security of tenure.
RBKC was the landlord for Grenfell Tower, which was destroyed in a devastating fire in June 2017 – killing 72 people.
The tower was managed by the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO), a company set up by the council to take on its housing functions.
KCTMO was stripped of responsibility for managing RBKC’s 9,000 council homes in the aftermath of the fire, with the council reevaluating its housing strategy as a result.
This document, seen exclusively by Inside Housing ahead of publication at a council meeting last night, sets out a number of options in order to prevent the loss of affordable units in the borough.
As well as the attack on housing associations, it calls on the government to change rules around the use of Empty Dwelling Management Orders (EDMOs), so it can bring some empty homes on regeneration schemes back into use.
In a letter sent to housing minister Kit Malthouse this week, Mr Taylor-Smith says current rules mean the council has to demonstrate a home has been empty for two years, vandalised and proven to be a burden to local residents before an EDMO becomes possible.
The letter states the council “would like to work with your department to develop a more effective and potent system to bring empty properties back into play”.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said it had no plans to change the EDMOs rules.
A detailed feature about the housing strategy will be published later today.
