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Sanctuary boss hits back at Dispatches investigation
The boss of Sanctuary Housing Group has hit back at a documentary shown on Channel 4 last night, which included claims of poor service across the organisation, calling it an “inaccurate” reflection of its services.
Craig Moule, the chief executive of the 100,000-home landlord which operates across the UK, rejected the Dispatches documentary titled “The New Landlords from Hell”, labelling some of the claims made in the programme as “simply untrue”.
The documentary included testimonies from a number of Sanctuary Housing residents who claimed that the housing associations had failed to respond to issues in a timely manner, and repairs had not fixed problems in some cases.
The 30-minute programme included cases in Cambridgeshire, Nottinghamshire, Cornwall and Aberdeen, where people complained about a series of issues including cases of damp, woodworm and flooding.
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The programme linked an elderly resident’s death from pneumonia to the removal of his boiler, and claimed one family is living with mould on their walls and silverfish in their carpets – which they believe is damaging the health of their one-year-old son.
The programme said that the resident of this home had obtained internal Sanctuary emails under data protection laws that allegedly show its maintenance team considering deliberately delaying the repairs in the hope that the family would move out voluntarily – an allegation the housing association disputes.
Channel 4 claimed that it had verified more than 100 residents that said that their complaints about their housing conditions had been ignored.
A statement from Mr Moule published after the programme had been released read: “I’d been in post as Sanctuary’s group chief executive for a month [having previously been chief financial officer] when we found out the programme was being made. Like anyone would, I felt shocked and concerned. Had we let people down?
“Having seen the programme, we know this is not an accurate reflection of these cases or our wider services. I feel confident that we took the right steps throughout and that how our actions have been presented – that we refused to fix issues for example – is simply untrue.
“I want our residents to know we care because they can see it and feel it in our actions.
“I acknowledge we don’t always get things right and if we have fallen short, we work with residents to make sure we understand why and how we can improve.”
He also provided a comment piece for Inside Housing, below, where he responded in more detail to the programme.
The National Housing Federation said that the Dispatches programme made implications about the whole sector, and the experiences presented did not reflect most people’s experience of living in housing association properties.
It added that independent data from the English Housing Survey showed that housing association homes are in a better condition than those in any other sector.
The government has said it plans to give the Regulator of Social Housing more powers to police tenant standards, and also to introduce league tables of performance in a variety of areas including repairs.
Survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire have called for this to go further, with a specific new regulator created to police consumer standards in the sector. This call was backed by Shelter’s Affordable Housing Commission.
The new Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act will also give tenants more power to force landlords to carry out repairs to their homes.
Channel 4 has been contacted for comment.
Craig Moule: it hurts to have our values called into question
You may have seen the Dispatches on Monday night in which Sanctuary was featured, which asked whether housing associations are the new landlords from hell.
When I started in post as Sanctuary’s group chief executive at the beginning of this year, I didn’t know that within a month we’d find out a programme was being made about us. I wanted to share a little about the reality of the programme and my thoughts on what this means for our sector.
If you work for a housing association, chances are you do it because you are motivated to make a difference to the lives and homes of the people you serve. In my 30 years of working in social housing, I can count on one hand the people I’ve met who I’ve thought neither care nor respect tenants – everyone else cares deeply about providing the services and homes they deserve. So when anyone calls our values into question, it hurts.
We first found out about the programme when some of our residents contacted us and said they’d been approached by Dispatches and they wanted us to know they weren’t going to take part. At that stage we didn’t know what it was about.
As time went on and various cases were presented to us, it struck us how little the programme makers knew about how housing associations work. It also struck us that they seemed to misunderstand our purpose. This upsets me deeply because I know how hard our people work to get things right for our residents.
We might be tempted to dismiss this programme as sensationalist and not presenting a fair account of our actions, but it’s important we stop and reflect on what we can learn.
We welcome scrutiny in our sector; we know we are better organisations because of it – whether it’s scrutiny from residents, the regulator or the media. I truly believe that accountability and transparency is at the heart of everything we do.
As a sector, we recognise that there is a growing conversation among tenants about the quality of their homes and the services they receive. This takes place in many forums but most often it is highlighted in discussions on social media.
The National Housing Federation’s ‘Together with Tenants’ goes some way to answer this challenge, by focusing housing associations on getting better at listening to tenants, and encouraging all of us to raise our game. I am proud to have added Sanctuary’s name to the growing list of early adopters and to use this as an opportunity to strengthen our relationship with our residents.
We must now turn this commitment into action and continue on the path of building trust.
I also strongly believe that a housing association’s first priority should be looking after the homes of its residents, ensuring they are safe, energy efficient and meet their needs. For this reason, we are starting a conversation with our residents about the quality of their homes.
This discussion needs to include an honest review of the Decent Homes Standard and whether it is demanding enough. It was the right tool at the right time, and as a sector we should be rightly proud of what we have achieved, but times and expectations have moved on; does decent really mean decent any more?
One of the biggest challenges for all of us now is how we ensure the homes our residents live in are fit for purpose, not just for now but for future generations.
The quality of homes and how we are seen by the people we exist to serve are big issues that go to the heart of who we are as Sanctuary but also as a sector. It’s an opportunity for all of us to step up, show leadership and ensure our homes and communities are places where tenants choose to live.
Craig Moule, group chief executive, Sanctuary Group
