Tenants are being put at “unacceptable risk” in an east London borough which was on Wednesday handed the worst rating ever issued by the Government regulator for the state of its social housing.
In a damning report, the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) said Newham council’s stock had “very serious health and safety issues” and at least 20 per cent of its 16,000 homes do not meet decent living standards.
The town hall has failed to complete thousands of “high risk” fire safety actions and repairs, the inspection found.
Newham apologised for the failings and insisted it has “already taken action on the majority of issues identified to ensure rapid improvement for its tenants”.
Kate Dodsworth, Chief of Regulatory Engagement at RSH, said: “The breadth and scale of these failings, including very serious health and safety issues, pose an unacceptable risk to tenants’ well-being.
“Taking accountability is a critical part of the co-regulatory approach and it is extremely concerning that, despite the gravity of these failings, the landlord failed to refer themselves to us over key issues.
“We are now engaging intensively with Newham as they work to resolve these issues. While we are not proposing to use our enforcement powers at this stage, this will be kept under review.”
The damning RSH inspection found:
- Over 9,000 overdue fire safety actions, of which over 8,000 were overdue by more than a year and over 4,000 categorised as “high risk”
- At least 20 per cent of homes do not meet the requirements of the Decent Homes Standard
- Four in 10 homes had not had an electrical condition test for over a decade
- A lack of evidence that the borough meeting smoke and carbon monoxide alarm requirements for any of its 16,000 homes
- A lack of accurate information on stock quality, with 60 per cent of properties without a survey within the last five years.
- Around 5,400 open repairs, nearly half of which were overdue
- Tenant Satisfaction Measure surveys not completed on time
- Very limited opportunities for tenants to influence and scrutinise the landlord’s policies and services.
RSH has awarded 35 consumer grades since it began inspecting all social landlords who manage over 1,000 homes in April. Nine received the highest C1 grade, 13 were graded C2 and 12 C3. Newham Council is the only one to receive the lowest C4 as yet.
Abi Gbago, Newham’s Chief Executive, said: “We unequivocally accept all the recommendations in the report.
“They will be addressed in the programme of improvement already well under way.
“We can and must do better for our tenants. We have long been prioritising actions aimed at keeping residents safe, making many improvements even since the inspectors visited us in May.
“In line with our culture of openness and transparency, we welcomed the inspector’s review of our how well we are delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards, providing them with opportunities to meet tenants, officers and councillors.”
It is supporting around 6,500 families in temporary accommodation and has more than 38,000 households on its social housing waiting list.
Rents and homelessness in the capital has spiralled since the pandemic putting extreme stress on the majority of borough’s budgets, but particularly those with a high proportion of residents of lower incomes such as Newham. In the 12 months to April it saw 6,685 homelessness applications — up 26 per cent on the previous year. This year alone Newham anticipates it will overspend by £47million, of which £31million is for housing homeless families and £16million for social care costs.
Newham Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz said: “Residents living in our council homes deserve better, and I have made clear that the required improvements by the Housing Services department must be swift and rapid.
"I’ll be making sure the recommendations are implemented fully. There will be openness and transparency about progress in making those required improvements across all areas of the consumer standards; and I’ll be bringing in external experts to provide me additional assurance that change is happening.
“Fourteen years of cuts by the previous government have had enormous consequences for local authority services across the country – and Newham is no exception.
"We are already working at speed to complete overdue fire inspections, put in place additional resource to deliver electrical safety improvements and enhance opportunities for residents to engage with our services."
