30 COMMENT
GROWTH UNDER THREAT FROM DEMOLITION
Patrick Mooney
Patrick Mooney, housing consultant and news editor of Housing, Management & Maintenance magazine discusses how the push to demolish ageing buildings could seriously undermine social housing’s growth agenda.
E
fforts to increase the stock of council housing to meet the growing demand from homeless and overcrowded families, could be seriously damaged by the need to demolish or refurbish high rise blocks erected in the 1960s and 70s.
A growing number of tower blocks across the country are approaching the end of their useful lives (or have already long passed those dates) and require countless millions of pounds to be spent on them to tackle their growing list of disrepair items. The list covers everything from water ingress, condensation and mould to big ticket items like leaking roofs, unsafe electrics, asbestos, inadequate fi re safety and draughty windows. Under pressure from the Housing Secretary Michael Gove, the social housing regulator and the Housing Ombudsman, social landlords are having to redouble their efforts to upgrade the standard of rental housing they let out, while at the same time trying to build new homes for the more than 1.3 million people stuck on housing waiting lists.
A GROWING NUMBER OF TOWER BLOCKS ACROSS THE COUNTRY ARE APPROACHING THE END OF THEIR USEFUL LIVES
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This is happening at the same time as landlords are being tasked with retrofi tting energy effi ciency into their housing stock as well as upgrading the fi re and safety components of residential buildings. Combined together this is quite a storm that is hitting social housing at the same time, while fi nancial resources are also under severe pressure. It really is a tough ask.
MOUNTING PRESSURES The death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak from prolonged exposure to mouldy conditions in his parents ochdale at prompted ove to apply even more pressure on social landlords over the quality of accommodation they provide.
Under the new Awaab’s Law, social housing landlords will need to investigate and fi health hazards, including damp and mould, within strict new time limits. Timescales of 14 days for a landlord to investigate a problem
and seven days to make good on the repairs are being consulted on. Or they will need to rehouse the tenants where a home cannot be made safe. Failure to comply will attract attention from the various watchdogs overseeing the sector. The social housing regulator is being given new powers to proactively inspect landlords, to issue unlimited fi nes over poor or dangerous housing and in the worst cases to order changes in the management of properties. Meanwhile the Housing Ombudsman is being tasked with ensuring landlords learn from past mistakes. The ombudsman will be able to instruct landlords to measure their service against guidance on issues such as damp and mould, to help drive improvements following complaints from tenants. As a result, social landlords are facing a high stakes Hobson’s Choice, where they can tackle poor conditions or face the consequences. All the choices are likely to involve spending huge sums of money at some stage – either
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