Now we finally have it, in black and white. Every single death at Grenfell Tower could, and should, have been avoided, and a long list of organisations, individuals and authorities failed us catastrophically.
We acknowledge that Sir Martin Moore-Bick and the inquiry team have produced a thorough report, following an incredibly detailed inquiry process. But while we are supportive of the report, we feel there are areas where Moore-Bick did not go far enough.
We had to fight for five years to get the government to implement the recommendations from phase one, and they remain incomplete to this day. Disabled residents are still in exactly the same position they were in on the night of the fire, with no personal evacuation plans to get them out safely.
We don’t want to have to fight for these new recommendations. Moore-Bick should have gone further to pressure the government to act. The report is too soft on the need for the government to legislate. Because this isn’t just about regulation: it’s about legislation. Given Boris Johnson’s previous hollow words, that he would “not allow the lessons of this tragedy to fall through the cracks”, we need more than “iron-clad promises” to implement these recommendations. Now is the time for action; so regulate, legislate and change.
We needed the report to demand a culture shift in social housing. It is undeniably damning about the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation (KCTMO), our landlord. But unfortunately, Moore-Bick did not understand the residents’ predicament and the way we tried to protect ourselves from an uncaring and bullying overlord that belittled and marginalised us. That, for many of us, has really undermined his report.
Between tenant and landlord, there are clear lines of responsibility. Residents did everything they could to stop the abusive relationship, and the report makes clear just how right we were about KCTMO. But Moore-Bick’s report didn’t censure social-housing providers, and it didn’t take any steps to identify the power issues with KCTMO and residents.
There was a huge national failure of regulation, but let’s not forget that fundamentally we were failed by our landlord. It provided us with homes, which it turned into a death trap. And throughout that refurbishment process, we were treated as second-class citizens who should be happy for getting something for nothing.
There are urgent reforms that need to be made to social housing, but the report has failed to make any recommendations here. The evidence was there, even if the panel wasn’t looking, even if it was outside the remit. Maybe Richard Millett KC, the lead counsel to the inquiry, and his team ran out of time to properly consider what is in the Social Housing Regulation Act to see if it matched the evidence from the inquiry. But, in our opinion, the act did not address the critical cultural issues, and now we have a gaping hole in both recommendations and legislation to properly address this.
The contempt that killed our loved ones has killed before and it will kill again. Now the new government has to do something about it. But social housing is merely one strand of our twisted and broken housing system.
Seven years on, we still don’t know how many buildings have cladding on them. Across the country, people are at risk because of the cavalier attitude of people responsible for building safety. Moore-Bick has shown that nobody took responsibility for our safety, that money meant more and profit took precedence over people. Keir Starmer has to find a way to put people first.
For real change to emerge, we need to be heard. So when the MPs on both sides fled the Commons chamber as the statement on Grenfell was made following the report’s publication, we felt little hope for change.
The tenant management organisation got away with its contempt because of structural discrimination, and unfortunately the inquiry report shows this same contempt. You can’t blame residents for standing up for themselves when their lives are put in danger by the incompetent, the greedy and the self-seeking.
We do not sleep easy knowing that glaring changes still need to be made, that there is such a long road ahead before criminal justice is delivered, and that there are residents in every ward across the country suffering the same discrimination as we did. Their lives are at risk, and they are still being silenced. Don’t we all deserve better?
Natasha Elcock is a survivor of the Grenfell Tower fire who lost her uncle on the night of 14 June 2017. She is the chair of Grenfell United, the survivors and bereaved family’s group
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
