Council housing residents let down by PFI schemes n Mounted units boost public trust in policing n Database on world top incomes n
NEWS
Barriers restrict East Africa’s connectivity gains n New psychology A-level resource n Travel costs increase exclusion n British Asian marital breakdown increases n Long-term coma resource n
Understanding fatherhood post-separation n Childhood bullying worse than adult maltreatment n Schools tackling domestic violence n Poverty erodes the dignity of lone mothers n
NEWS
Council housing residents let down by PFI schemes
T
HE PRIVATE FINANCE Initiative (PFI) has no place in public housing regeneration schemes, says researcher Dr
Stuart Hodkinson. His three-year in- depth study of refurbishment and new build PFI housing schemes in Lambeth and Islington highlights a catalogue of problems reported by residents of council estates and properties. “Our study aimed to understand council housing tenants’ and leaseholders’ experiences of regeneration schemes in England that use PFI,” says Dr Hodkinson. “Many of those we interviewed told us that experience was shocking.” Introduced by the Conservative
Government in 1992, PFI combines the short-term construction and/or refurbishment of existing or new public buildings and other infrastructure with their long-term management and maintenance in contracts awarded to private sector companies, lasting between 10 and 60 years. “The promise of PFI in housing regeneration schemes is that superior private sector expertise, large government subsidies, and financial penalties for poor performance should ensure a high standard outcome for residents,” Dr Hodkinson states.
In reality, project researchers heard
about residents facing an array of unresolved problems with standards of workmanship and completion of work. “Some people told us the work
“
taking proper advantage of their powers to penalise contractors for poor performance. “In one scheme, where residents expressed huge dissatisfaction, the PFI contractor has so far received
Some people told us the work was so chaotic
they had been left with no hot water or heating for days, weeks and even months
was so chaotic they had been left with no hot water or heating for days, weeks and even months,” he says. “Others said they had no confidence that major work such as electrical rewiring was actually safe.” One key problem, Dr Hodkinson explains, concerns robust monitoring of PFI building work and contractual standards. “The work is all sub- contracted, meaning dozens and dozens of contractors working on site,” he says. “The PFI companies report their own performance, but this does not always reflect the kinds of residents’ experiences we were told about. Local Authorities lack the resources to check what’s happening and often do not address individuals’ problems.” Crucially, researchers found no evidence that Local Authorities are
just £2,000 in penalties,” he says. “No local authority wants to take on these PFI companies – often subsidiaries of powerful global corporations – for fear of unaffordable legal disputes and contractual breakdown.”
”
Researchers highlight the need for urgent independent evaluation of all PFI housing schemes with input from industry experts, tenants and academics. “Given concerns about monitoring and sign-off, the danger is that major problems for these properties are lying in wait,” Dr Hodkinson concludes. n
i Contact Dr Stuart Hodkinson,
University of Leeds Email
s.n.hodkinson@leeds.ac.uk Telephone 01133 431820 ESRC Grant Number ES/I010955/1
SUMMER 2015 SOCIETY NOW 3
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