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‘Some leaders focused more on reputation than complaint redress,’ says ombudsman
Housing ombudsman Richard Blakeway told attendees at the Northern Housing Consortium’s (NHC) annual conference that some senior leaders had been too defensive and focused more on reputation over redress when dealing with complaints.
Mr Blakeway shared his thoughts during a conversation with Kate Dodsworth, director of consumer regulation at the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH), as part of the one-day summit at the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester on Tuesday.
As part of the discussion about culture in the sector, particularly around dealing with damp and mould, he said: “I’m afraid some landlords, some senior leaders have been too defensive to focus on reputation and not focused enough on redressing.”
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He was quick to point out that there are good leaders in the sector, before adding: “The second thing is some in the sector can be too quick to absolve themselves of responsibility, to find a reason for not intervening, to find a reason for not being proactive, and maybe that’s driven by capacity issues and resource issues, but they have got to focus on their responsibilities.”
The conversation was chaired by Mark Easton, the BBC’s home editor, who asked how much change the ombudsman felt was needed across the sector.
“I can’t escape the reality that there are repeated areas of failure that landlords need to address,” Mr Blakeway said.
“Too many landlords treat complaints as transactional. They do not consider the genuine lessons, and there’s too much of an over-reliance on compliance.”
The ombudsman said that landlords need to move away from this transactional arrangement to a more holistic approach. He acknowledged that landlords are being “pulled in all different directions” by the government and on policy. But he said he felt there had been a failure of leadership in the sector.
In addition, Mr Blakeway said he often feels like he is playing “whack-a-mole” when dealing with repeated failures, which he described as “unsustainable”.
Ms Dodsworth and Mr Blakeway also shared their thoughts on whether the sector is up to the many challenges it faces, particularly in light of the increased focus on damp and mould following the tragic death of Awaab Ishak.
An inquest into Awaab’s death last year concluded that he died as a result of prolonged exposure to mould in a Rochdale Boroughwide Housing (RBH) flat.
The government announced a review of damp and mould guidance to landlords on Monday in the wake of the coroner’s findings in this case.
Ms Dodsworth said: “I think if we go back around five years to the Grenfell tragedy, you talked about defining moments, and there being too many defining moments, so I think tenants have waited a long time for change to happen.”
She added: “I get asked a lot whether the sector is broken and everything is rotten for tenants, but I don’t think that’s true.”
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