Social housing complaints soar and housing watchdog warns of 'simmering anger'
In its latest report, the Housing Ombudsman, which deals with disputes between residents and social housing landlords in England, said that the general condition of social housing - combined with the length of time it takes for repairs to be done - is leading to a breakdown in trust. "You've got ageing homes and social housing, you've got rising costs around materials, for example, and you've got skills shortages," said Mr Blakeway, who spoke to the BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "You put all that together and you end up with a perfect storm and that's what's presenting in our case work. That is not sustainable."He said tenants have "little say in the services they receive, however poor they are" and that this is leading to "growing frustration". While he acknowledged that social landlords are putting in "record amounts" for repairs and maintenance - £9bn between 2023 and 2024 - there had been historic underfunding in social housing. He also said that while landlords have faced "funding uncertainties", they needed to address their communication with tenants that sometimes "lacks dignity and respect".
According to the ombudsman's report, there were 6,380 complaints investigated in the year to March 2025 - up from 1,111 in the year to March 2020.It also found that an estimated 1.5 million children in England live in a non-decent home in 2023, and 19% of those live in social housing.It is calling for a "transformative overhaul" of the current system, including an independent review of funding practices and the establishment of a "national tenant body" to "strengthen tenant voice and landlord accountability". That would be separate to the ombudsman, which has the power to order a landlord to apologise, carry out works or pay financial compensation."The human cost of poor living conditions is evident, with long-term impacts on community cohesion, educational attainment, public health, and economic productivity," said Mr Blakeway."Without change we effectively risk the managed decline of one of the largest provisions of social housing in Europe, especially in areas of lowest affordability."It also risks the simmering anger at poor housing conditions becoming social disquiet."
Housing campaigner Kwajo Tweneboa told the BBC that he was "shocked but not surprised" by the ombudsman's report.He pointed out that for complaints to reach the ombudsman, tenants will have to formally raised the issue with the landlord. Mr Tweneboa said social housing residents he has spoken to say they feel they are not listened to and that the culture within housing organisations "just isn't right". "They feel they are just a rental figure at the end of each month.""In some cases, residents are left to suffer for years," Mr Tweneboa says, adding that he knows of instances in which families with children have to "defecate in bin bags, urinate in bottles because they've been without a toilet for months". In a statement, a Ministry of Housing spokesperson said: "Everyone deserves to live in a safe, secure home and despite the situation we have inherited, we are taking decisive action to make this a reality.""We will clamp down on damp, mould and other hazards in social homes by bringing in Awaab's Law for the social rented sector from October, while we will also introduce a competence and conduct standard for the social rented sector to ensure staff have the right skills, knowledge and experience to do their jobs effectively."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Telegraph
Trump visits Federal Reserve after attacks on Powell
Donald Trump is to tour the Federal Reserve as he ramps up pressure on chairman Jerome Powell. The president is expected to arrive at the central bank at 4pm Washington time (9pm UK) to inspect renovation works. The overhaul has become increasingly contentious in recent weeks, amid speculation Mr Trump is seeking to use cost overruns on the project as an excuse to oust Mr Powell. Mr Trump has been campaigning for months to get the Fed to cut interest rates, posting a regular stream of invective against Mr Powell on his Truth Social online platform. This week he called for Fed's benchmark rate to be 3 percentage points lower than the 4.25pc to 4.5pc rate it is now. The Fed's reluctance to move until it gauges the inflationary effect of Mr Trump's tariffs has prompted the president to repeatedly threaten to sack Mr Powell before his term as Fed chairman ends next May. American law prevents the president from ejecting the Fed boss for reasons related to monetary policy. The only potentially legal cause for removal would be 'inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance'. Mr Trump is also wary of provoking a market meltdown if he is seen to attack the bank's independence on monetary policy. This has prompted the White House to look for other potential triggers – and they have alighted on the controversial renovation project at the Fed's Washington headquarters. The cost of the works was budgeted at $1.9bn (£1.4bn) when the project began in 2021, but has blown out to $2.5bn. The Fed has said that higher post-pandemic costs for labour and materials were responsible, along with unexpected expenses related to asbestos removal and toxic soil contamination. But Mr Trump's senior aides have claimed the project is extravagant and wasteful. They alleged the plans included VIP dining rooms, executive elevators, water features and roof gardens – claims largely rejected by the Fed. Several senior officials have sought to keep up the pressure by arranging to tour the building site and inspect the works personally. Mr Trump has now opted to join them. The president has suggested he is unlikely to try and oust the chairman 'unless he has to leave for fraud'. Several of Mr Trump's aides, including those leading the campaign against the Fed, are in the frame to replace Mr Powell.
ITV News
2 hours ago
- ITV News
What the UK-India trade deal means for Wales
Sir Keir Starmer and India's Narendra Modi are set to agree a trade deal which is understood to be the largest of its kind for its economic impact on Britain. The UK-India trade deal is worth £6 billion in investment for the British economy and will be signed off on Thursday (July 23). It's set to deliver an £80 million boost to Wales's as part of the Plan for Change, with Welsh food and drink, renewable energy and creative sectors set to benefit following a reduction or elimination of tariffs. Secretary of State for Wales Jo Stevens said: 'Key industries in Wales, such as the renewable energy sector, the creative industries and food and drink producers will see immediate benefits. "On many goods tariffs will be reduced or eliminated. And Welsh businesses will also benefit from access to India's huge procurement market with increased protections so they can confidently export goods and services." According to the Wales Office, 256 Welsh businesses exported goods worth £226 million to India last year. Among those goods is Welsh lamb, which will be able to enter the Indian market duty free from day one, removing a 33% tariff. Gareth Parry, Head of Policy at Farmers Union of Wales, said: "It's really important that we do open up these market opportunities in Asia, the Middle East and other countries across the world. "But we also have to acknowledge how important our nearest trading partners are for the operation of our food system, such as the European Union. We've maintained throughout, ever since the Brexit referendum, that we support maintaining how strong the relationship with our EU partners is, particularly for the trading of Welsh agricultural goods." 'Developing market' for whisky producers Whisky tariffs will be slashed in half, according to the Government, and will fall further over successive years, while other industries including soft drinks, cars and cosmetics are also expected to see cheaper duties. Stephen Davies, Chief Executive of Penderyn Distillery, said: "We are developing our business and brand awareness in both domestic and travel retail sectors in India. It's an exciting and developing market for us. "The agreement to reduce tariffs will provide a better platform for us and our industry to develop links and build business over the next five years. These are exciting times." For Wales' energy sector, the deal will see lower tariffs and unprecedented access to India's public procurement market. The UK already imports £11 billion in goods from India but liberalised tariffs on Indian goods will make it easier and cheaper to buy their best products. The creative sector in Wales will also benefit from increased copyright protections.
Times
2 hours ago
- Times
Magic Grandpa is back — and Labour will laugh him off at its peril
It's not altogether clear how seriously you're meant to take a political party that can fit inside a single pantomime horse costume, especially when it's riding about with no name. But still, it looked like it felt good for Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana to be out in the rain. The launch event, if it can be called that, of Corbyn and Sultana's new party took Westminster by surprise, but the party's brand new leader denied it had been done on the spur of the moment. Launching a nameless political party was, he said, 'totally coherent', while standing in some very light drizzle in central London. For now, it is called 'Your Party' and its leader explained that he couldn't possibly name it until he'd read through all the suggestions, which can still be submitted at Suggestions, he said, had been coming in at 'more than 500 a minute', which does raise the possibility that some of them may not be altogether serious. When he was asked by a TV news reporter why it didn't have a name, Corbyn cracked a little smile and said: 'Well we're open to suggestions for names so if you've got a suggestion for a name, bring it on. Any ideas out there, I'm ready to receive them.' He explained that the name would be chosen 'by a final assembly later in the year', which might sound hilarious, but don't forget that was also his big idea, back in 2019, for his own party's policy on Brexit. Well, not his big idea, his shadow Brexit secretary's big idea in fact. Whatever happened to him. Things like, you know, just choosing the name yourself, is not for them. That's the sort of thing, according to the two-page letter the pair of them published on X, that the 'top-down control freaks' in the Labour Party do. His former party is doing its best to pretend not to be worried. 'The electorate has twice given its verdict on a Jeremy Corbyn-led party', was how one anonymous Labour Party figure put it to the BBC. But that cheery little smile on the face of magic grandpa is a little bit of an earthquake. One of the verdicts of the electorate on Corbyn wasn't all that damning, in the sense that he received 12.9 million votes, which is about three million more than Starmer managed last year. Corbyn came within a whisper of victory, which we must believe would definitely have horrified the prime minister and half his cabinet, all of whom campaigned for him. Even in the middle of a Labour landslide, people out there who share Corbyn's worldview cost Starmer Jonathan Ashworth and Thangam Debbonaire, who would both have been in the cabinet, and very nearly cost him Wes Streeting and Jess Phillips too. If smiley, twinkly, albeit still-wrong-about-everything Corbyn has got four years in him then he might even be, in a crowded field, straight in at number one as his former party's worst enemy. It's easy to laugh at Corbyn. In fact I would strongly encourage it. It's the only viable psychological coping mechanism. But if they're laughing in Downing Street, then they might live to regret it.
