Latest news with #HousingOmbudsman
ITV News
09-06-2025
- Politics
- ITV News
Moment of truth for Labour on 'cliff edge' housing crisis
For the past 45 years Britain has been on a mission - to sell off as much affordable housing as it possibly can without replacing it. And in that mission, we have been extraordinarily successful. According to the government's own data, the number of social homes - the most affordable housing for rent - has dropped by 25% since 1980, while the population has grown by 14%. We have sold off 1.9 million social homes largely under the Right to Buy scheme, which allows tenants to buy the property they rent at a generous discount. It has transformed the way Britain is housed. When Margaret Thatcher came to power, a third of the country lived in a council house, while the number of people who privately rented was just 10%. Today, that trend has almost exactly reversed - millions more people rent from private landlords at a time when rents are at historically high levels. Thatcher started this trend, and every government since has stuck to the plan - a plan which has proven foolish and short-sighted, and the consequences profound. Today, the number of homeless children in England is at the highest level on record. The number of families stuck in temporary accommodation is also the highest since records began. There are 1.3 million households on a waiting list for a social home. Most will have to wait years to get one, many won't ever get one.I will never forget sitting on the grass in a park in north London with a homeless family who were living in a temporary budget hotel after they were unable to find anywhere affordable to rent. I asked eight-year-old Callis what his dream was - footballer, astronaut, doctor? His response: 'Somewhere to live, and to stay there.' This all comes at an enormous cost. The government spends more than £20 billion a year on housing benefit, subsidising the rent of people who cannot afford to pay it. That has doubled since 1997. The state is spending more on helping people pay unaffordable rents than it is building homes. Those living in a social home are increasingly made to feel they should be grateful for owning one, even if this means living in a run-down, mouldy, damp, or even dangerous home in desperate need of repair. I have spent four years reporting on the crisis in housing conditions, and the state of some of Britain's housing stock is a stain on the country, homes that would not look out of place in a Dickens novel. Complaints too often go ignored. Where else are they going to go? Last week, a report by the Housing Ombudsman found 45% of Britain's social homes were built before 1964. And what happened to those homes that the state decided to sell at a heavy discount? Forty per cent are now private rentals, according to the New Economics Foundation, let out at maximum market price to the same kinds of families who 40 years ago would have rented from the state at a much more affordable rate. It isn't getting better either. Last year, England sold and demolished more social homes than it built. At a time when affordable housing is in desperate need, the country is still in negative equity. Successive governments have prioritised home ownership at the expense of everything else, but that's no longer working out either. The number of homeowners has been in steady decline since the early 2000s. Enter stage left: Rachel Reeves. The chancellor is under enormous pressure to halt five decades of decline and offer up cash to build more social homes, and fast. The Starmer government has promised to build 1.5 million homes by the next election. I can't find anyone across the housing sector who thinks they can achieve that, even with its plans to overhaul the planning system, but if they do, it will only be by building more social housing. The last time Britain built more than 300,000 homes in a year was 1977, when half were built by the state. This, of course, means money. Housing campaigners have been relentless in their lobbying of the Treasury to put money in the pipeline to ensure tens of thousands of new social homes are consistently built every year. The last government committed £11.5 billion to the affordable housing programme between 2021 and 2026, but 'affordable' includes shared ownership and rents at 80% of market value (social rentals are typically at 50%), which the vast majority of people on waiting lists cannot afford. The programme hasn't touched the sides when it comes to social housing delivery. Housing charities want to see billions more on top of that £11.5 billion figure. One chief executive told me an extra £12 billion is needed, but £6 billion would be a good start. An extra £12 billion would allow, charities estimate, around 45,000 social homes to be built each year. Last year, England built 9,866. Across the sector, it is widely agreed that 90,000 are needed each year just to keep up with current demand. 'For too long, governments have allowed thousands of social homes to be lost each year, while funnelling public money into so-called 'affordable homes' which are priced far out of reach for many,' Mairi MacRae, Director of Campaigns & Policy at Shelter, told me. 'The result has been record homelessness, and families, young people, and key workers priced out of their communities. 'Social homes are the only genuinely affordable homes by design because rents are tied to local incomes and are around two thirds lower than private rents…the government must commit to building 90,000 social rent homes a year for ten years.' One major bugbear for campaigners is the reluctance and/or refusal by Labour to say how many of the 1.5 million will be social homes. They want the Spending Review to be the moment where that changes. They want to see targets, and any money accounted for the affordable housing programme must, they say, stipulate how much is specifically for social housing. Matt Downie, chief executive of Crisis, told me: 'The spending review must be an opportunity for investment in new social homes to see homelessness levels come down. 'We need a clear commitment on the 90,000 new social homes required each year and a level of investment that starts the process of delivery to get there. Only then will we tackle head on the huge problem of temporary accommodation we currently face.' My colleague Robert Peston has reported the last few days on a stand-off between the chancellor and the Housing Secretary Angela Rayner, who herself grew up in social housing in Manchester. Before she entered government, she and I talked a lot about the desperate need for social homes, what it meant to her personally to have that safety net as a child and how she wants that for others. Rayner knows all the arguments laid out here, knows the statistics and the stories behind them. She understands them perhaps more than any minister that has ever worked in government. She is now in that age-old battle with the bean counters at Number 11, who, for decades, whichever party has been in charge, have not stumped up the cash to build houses. The country is now paying an enormous cost. In economic terms, building social housing is a smart use of public money. It is infrastructure that will last decades and in the medium to long term would save money, reducing that big housing benefit bill while dragging families out of poverty and unhealthy homes that are making them sick. Britain has undergone a 45-year experiment. By every measure, it has failed. Even the last Conservative government and its Housing Secretary, Michael Gove, said the failure to build social homes has been a mistake. There is now a political consensus on the need to end the experiment and build. Charities warn Britain is on a cliff edge. Refuse to intervene and the government risks ever-rising homelessness and councils going bankrupt trying to house those without anywhere to live. Wednesday's spending review has become D-Day for the housing market and for millions of families with nowhere to go.
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Social housing complaints soar as watchdog warns of 'simmering anger'
Complaints about substandard living conditions in social housing in England are more than five times higher than five years ago, according to the housing watchdog. Housing Ombudsman Richard Blakeway said there was an "imbalance of power" in the tenant-landlord relationship and "simmering anger at poor housing conditions risked becoming social disquiet". He warned without change England risked the "managed decline" of social housing. Asbestos, electrical and fire safety issues, pest control and leaks, damp and mould are among the complaints, the watchdog receives. 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. Referring to English Housing Survey estimates, 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. The Housing Ombudsman 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." This is "neither fanciful nor alarmist", he said, adding that tenant activism formed its roots decades ago in the 1960s, and referencing the ongoing "shock" over the Grenfell Tower fire and the death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak in recent years. The 2017 tower block blaze which killed 72 people, and the death of Awaab in 2020, caused by prolonged exposure to mould in his home, have put the spotlight on housing standards and safety. 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". The National Housing Federation, which represents England's housing associations, said quality and safety of homes was their "top priority", and the sector was spending record sums on repairs and maintenance. Chief executive Kate Henderson said: "Crippling cuts to social housing over many years have exacerbated quality issues, as the ombudsman recognises, and only an increase in funding can address this over the long-term." Overcrowding is a "significant contributor" to issues such as damp and mould, she added. 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." Plans to tackle IOM's key housing issues unveiled Rat infestation is blighting area, say residents We're treated like peasants, say tenants in fight over mouldy homes
BBC News
29-05-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Social housing complaints soar and housing watchdog warns of 'simmering anger'
Complaints about substandard living conditions in social housing in England are more than five times higher than five years ago, according to the housing watchdog. Housing Ombudsman Richard Blakeway told the BBC an "imbalance of power" in the tenant-landlord relationship was leading to "simmering anger" among those living in social warned without change England risked the "managed decline" of social housing. Asbestos, electrical and fire safety issues, pest control and leaks, damp and mould are among the complaints, the watchdog receives . 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 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 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 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."
ITV News
29-05-2025
- Health
- ITV News
Family say mould contributed to baby's death as housing complaints soar in England
The family of a 15-week-old baby who died after living in a damp, mould-ridden housing association flat say they believe the conditions contributed to his death. Akram Mohammed was less than four months old when he died in February 2025, after spending his short life in a north London flat owned by Notting Hill Genesis. The walls and ceiling were covered in black mould and the property smelled of damp, and Akram's parents told ITV News they believe their landlord did not sufficiently deal with their multiple complaints about the conditions in their home. "We complained, and complained, but nothing happened," Akram's father Abdushafi told ITV News. Abdushafi and Akram's mother Aita Mohammed say they also complained to the Housing Ombudsman in the months before Akram's death, as a new report finds complaints about social housing providers across England have soared in the last five years. "We were crying out for help, but nobody hears" said Aita. When he was born, Akram was a "blessing," his mother said. "He was playful. He was a happy, happy, happy boy," Aita told ITV News. But Aita says her son was just a month old when he began showing signs of having difficulty breathing. "We started to hear him breathe loudly, especially at night... He was struggling to breathe," she said. She sought medical help, including the day before Akram died, but she does not believe his condition was taken seriously. After finding Akram in his cot struggling to breathe and frothing at the mouth, his parents rushed him to hospital but he died at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead on February 21. The family's solicitor told ITV News that a pathology report indicated the little boy died of acute pneumonia due to late-onset Group B Strep infection. Akram, as well as Abdushafi, Aita and their other two young children were living in a severely overcrowded one-bedroom apartment. Abdushafi moved into the flat in 2013, and was later joined by his wife, and subsequently their three children. In a statement, Patrick Franco, chief executive of Notting Hill Genesis, said: 'We are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of Akram Mohammed and extend our sincere condolences to his family, their friends and neighbours. We will continue to support the family in any way we can during this difficult time. "We know that this is a complex situation and will continue working with the relevant authorities as they conduct their investigations. "No determination has been made by HM Coroner as to the cause of Akram's death, and it would therefore be inappropriate to comment further or to speculate at this time.' In relation to reports of damp and mould in April 2024, Notting Hill Genesis said it investigated matters and subsequently conducted a thorough mould wash. In October 2024, the month prior to Akram's birth, Mr and Mrs Mohammed reported further issues of damp and mould, which Notting Hill Genesis was working to resolve. An inquest will take place in August to determine the circumstances surrounding Akram's death. In 2022 a coroner ruled that two-year-old Awaab Ishak died as a result of breathing problems caused by mould in his family's housing association flat in Rochdale. The government is yet to fully implement 'Awaab's Law', created in his name, which would force social housing landlords to fix problems like mould, damp, and other hazards within a strict time limit. In a new report, the Housing Ombudsman has warned "simmering anger" at poor housing conditions could lead to "social disquiet". Complaints to the ombudsman about substandard housing are now almost five times higher than they were five years ago. The ombudsman, which deals with disputes between residents and social housing landlords in England, said there were 6,380 complaints investigated in the year to March 2025, up from 1,111 in the year to March 2020. Reasons for complaints included asbestos, electrical and fire safety issues, pest control and leaks, damp and mould. The ombudsman Richard Blakeway said the rise in complaints was in part down to an ITV News long-running investigation into social housing conditions, which he says has raised awareness of the issue nationally. 'We have seen how reports such as those run on ITV News have increased the number of residents who know their rights on complaints', he said. 'It has also given them confidence that their concerns will be acted upon, and this is reflected in some of our casework where repairs that were previously stalled have now been investigated by us and resolved. '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.'
The Guardian
28-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Housing ombudsman for England warns of ‘simmering anger' over living conditions
The housing ombudsman has warned 'simmering anger at poor housing conditions' could boil over into social tension as his office recorded a 474% increase in complaints about substandard living conditions since 2019/20. Richard Blakeway, the housing ombudsman for England, said repairs were now the single biggest driver of complaints his office deals with, accounting for 45% of its workload. 'Without change we effectively risk the managed decline of one of the largest provisions of social housing in Europe,' he said. 'To replace these homes would take more than 60 years at recent building rates.' He said it was 'neither fanciful nor alarmist' to suggest the growing anger at housing conditions could become 'social disquiet', saying the 'shock of Grenfell Tower and Awaab Ishak's death resonate still'. 'I travel across the country to different public meetings and there is a sense of people feeling invisible, of voices not being heard, their issues not being taken seriously, a lack of respect and dignity in the way in which residents have been treated. It is leading to a really serious fracturing of trust, which in some cases is irreparable,' he said. In a new report on social housing repairs and maintenance, the Housing Ombudsman Service reported a 474% increase in complaints about substandard living conditions between 2019/20 and 2024/25, with 72% identified as stemming from poor practice. Despite social landlords spending a record £9bn on repairs and maintenance in 2023/24, the ombudsman – which resolves disputes between residents and social landlords – ordered £3.4m in compensation for poor living conditions in 2024/25. 'We've seen an unprecedented increase in complaints, which far exceeds the rising complaints in other sectors. What we're seeing is exponential in comparison to other ombudsmen,' Blakeway said. The report is based on a review of hundreds of cases and more than 3,000 responses to a call for evidence. It features dozens of examples of bad practice, including a child's bedroom window being boarded up for four years rather than replaced and collapsed ceilings containing asbestos left unrepaired for two years. Ageing, poor-quality housing stock and the rising cost and complexity of repairs were two of the key drivers behind the rise in complaints. Almost half (45%) of social homes in England were built before 1964, and the percentage with damp and mould has risen from 4% in 2019 to 7% in 2023. Blakeway said policies had not kept pace with living standards, and called rules that say kitchens and bathrooms need only be replaced every 20 and 30 years respectively 'a statement absent of aspiration from the world's sixth wealthiest nation'. He added: 'The baseline set for the quality of social housing is completely detached from the reality of consumer experience elsewhere. It's completely inadequate in the 21st century.' The report found that landlords were 'effectively rationing repairs services', with one landlord's policy referring to doing some repairs only when 'resources are available' and others saying they would deal with emergencies only. It also found incidents of cases being closed before hazards were resolved because of 'unevidenced claims that the resident had denied access'. Blakeway called for a 'transformative overhaul' of the sector, including a national tenant body to strengthen the rights of residents and increase landlord accountability, as well as long-term funding for the sector. 'These homes are only getting older, so we need a fundamental rethink on how we do maintenance and the investment required to preserve the social housing legacy which previous generations have worked hard to build,' he said. He called the model for maintaining existing social homes 'unsustainable' and 'a significant risk to the government's vital housebuilding ambitions'. The government has announced plans to build 1.5m homes to tackle the country's housing crisis, but there are reports of internal disputes over the level of funding for social housing. Awaab's law, named after two-year-old Awaab Ishak, who was killed by mould in a social housing flat in Rochdale in 2020, is due to come into force from October, but the government has been criticised for delaying its full implementation to 2027. From October, social landlords in England will have 24 hours to make emergency repairs, including to damp and mould, but will have until 2027 to begin fixing other hazards immediately, including asbestos and contaminated water supplies. Blakeway called the law 'desperately needed' but still too reactive. 'It improves the response, but it doesn't prevent the issues,' he said. 'Where is our aspiration? Landlord systems just haven't modernised to move from a reactive approach to maintenance to a predictive approach, and that often creates long delays to repairs,' he added. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: 'Everyone deserves to live in a safe, secure home and despite the dire 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.'
