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Editor’s comment


A busy in-tray for the Housing Secretary


Patrick Mooney, News Editor


It’s difficult at the moment to think about housing issues beyond the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing news emanating from the Grenfell Tower public inquiry. Both are likely to have long reaching consequences for millions of people. Individuals and organisations can mitigate many of the negatives, but it will be down to the Government to set the correct policy climate and to provide the budgets necessary to ensure that positive solutions are found and resourced. We also want to ensure that tenants’ voices are heard and where possible, they are acted upon. This needs to become the default position, rather than an accidental coincidence. In the short-term these twin issues are competing with Brexit and how we increase new housebuilding to 300,000 a year, while in the medium to long-term, they will be competing with decarbonisation of our housing as the country tries to deliver on its Green commitments. This will not be an easy set of challenges to navigate successfully, but our children will never forgive us if we botch this up. Already we have seen some unacceptable compromises have been made over implementing the recommendations from the first phase of the Grenfell Tower public inquiry. Health and safety issues are far too important to skimp on or to cut corners. The terrible example of the decision to change cladding materials at the Grenfell Tower in order to save £265,000 should act as a reminder that such important matters need to be based on thorough and well-informed research. Failure to properly consider the fire safety qualities of the cladding meant that cost and appearance were the primary determinants. The consequence of this was that 72 people lost their lives and many more lives were destroyed or badly affected by their experience. Put simply, this must never happen again.


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CLADDING REMOVAL NEEDS TO HURRY UP More than three years on from the fire, we still have hundreds of medium and high-rise buildings clad in dangerous materials. This is clearly a difficult problem to solve, but surely in the past three years we should have been able to come up with a solution to the thorny problem of ‘evacuation or stay put’ in the event of a fire. Similar questions could be asked about why checks on fire doors are being scaled back from the inquiry’s recommended cycle and when is the retrofitting of water sprinklers going to be made a legal requirement on existing properties? If it’s good enough for new builds, then surely it also needs to apply to our existing stock. Which brings us back to the thorny issue of dangerous cladding panels and their use on thousands of residential tower blocks across the country, many of them built in the last 20 years or so. Progress on removing and replacing the panels is happening at an incredibly slow rate. The impact on residents’ mental health is truly awful with individual leaseholders facing the added pressures of demands for thousands of pounds, while their flats and apartments are considered worthless by a housing market that has turned it’s back on their plight.


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EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES NEEDED The recent Building Safety Bill has failed to reassure residents of the affected tower blocks that this is a comprehensive solution to their problem. The public spat on twitter between the Housing Secretary’s department and campaign groups did no one any favours and simply poured oil onto some very troubled waters. There are similar concerns emerging over how COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions are particularly affecting low income tenants, whose incomes are falling, who are struggling to pay their rent and are increasingly feeling less secure in their homes. The recent Resolution Foundation study highlights the problems in stark fashion, with many tenants taking on loans to pay their rent while others are planning on moving to cheaper accommodation before they are asked to leave by their landlords. It would be fantastic to be reporting on some good news over the matters outlined above. We remain optimistic that positive things will happen, but the timing of this is unknown. Afterall we are seeing some real progress towards the Government’s target of eliminating rough sleeping by the year 2024. This particular problem won’t be sorted overnight, but at least the Government has a clear strategy, with measureable targets and significant resources allocated to delivering it. There are short term measures to tackle the immediate pressures over this winter and long-term actions designed to provide suitable accommodation and expert support. Well thought out plans and strategies stand a good chance of succeeding and we sincerely hope they do.


HOUSING MANAGEMENT & MAINTENANCE


DEC/JAN 2021 Balcony fire safety


Richard Izzard of AliDeck explores the prevalence and causes of balcony fires. See report on page 33.


Patrick Mooney


Ombusman’s tough approach continues


Rural


homelessness exposed


Grenfell refurb failings exposed


Tenants influence to increase


COVID-19 creating housing stresses


Richard Izzard of AliDeck explores the prevalence and causes of balcony fires. Development: Thomas York House in Woolwich Company: AliDeck


See page 33. 4 | HMM December/January 2021 | www.housingmmonline.co.uk


On the cover...


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