WANTED: A HOUSING WATCHDOG WITH BITE

Jail threat in 

Grenfell

survivors` 

clean-up plan

Housing boss Carol Matthews this week faces even more tests to her patience this week  as she and other housing bosses are again targeted. Serious stuff this time, a threat of jail.

The threat comes from Grenfell survivors.They are are rallying residents’ associations across the country  with the aim of getting a social housing watchdog with bite  – with the power to prosecute and jail negligent housing managers.

Last month this blog reported that Ms Matthews, Chief Executive of the giant Riverside Housing Association of Liverpool was impatient about the slow response to the recent social housing green paper. 

Grenfell...."forever in our hearts" says the tower.

She was was also preoccupied with  the tension between being a good social landlord and an ambitious  housing developer. Grenfell survivors have much more down to earth tensions to worry about… life and death tensions.

Natasha Elcock, chair of the survivors group Grenfell United, has told supporters of plans for “a movement to ensure that people up and down the country are listened to”.

Natasha Elcock..."people must be listened to".

The initial response from the government is reported as “receptive” with housing secretary, James Brokenshire acknowledging a need for increased regulation making social landlords more accountable.

The first phase of the Grenfell Inquiry heard evidence of Kensington and Chelsea Tenants Management Organisation  repeatedly ignoring the concerns of residents over shoddy workmanship during the refurbishment of the tower.

Ed Daffarn, who escaped from the 16th floor, warned eight months before the fire that “only a catastrophic event will expose the ineptitude and incompetence of our landlord”.

Ed Daffarn..."let down by lack of scrutiny".

Mr Daffarn is now driving the move for more urgent reform of the social housing sector as part of Grenfell United. He is also a member of an independent social housing commission set up by Shelter, alongside former Labour leader Ed Miliband and Tory peer Sayeeda Warsi.The commission published a report today.

Mr Daffarn said the current housing ombudsman and social housing regulator were opaque organisations not widely known by tenants.“What we feel let us down at Grenfell was the lack of scrutiny,” he said.

“They were safe in the knowledge nobody was going to scrutinise them.”

Mr Daffarn said Grenfell United wants senior housing managers to have a statutory responsibility to keep tenants safe and a more proactive regulator that targets problems, rather than simply responds to complaints.

 “The change in culture won’t come about because of the impact of Grenfell – it will come from policy and regulation.

“We can see so many similarities between the banking industry, which was unregulated and had a crash, and a housing sector that had Grenfell. Regulating housing should be 50 times more important that regulating banks.”

A spokesman for Carlisle Tenants and Residents` Federation which  publishes this blog said: “For many years the Federation  has attempted to hold Ms Matthews` Riverside Housing Association to account following its takeover of the 7,000 Carlisle council houses 17 years ago.

 “ In that time, we have found that Riverside is accountable to no-one, only to itself.

“That situation of unaccountability is no different to that outlined at Grenfell by Mr Daffarn (as quoted above) … the housing ombudsman and social housing regulator are both failed organisations, and local authorities and M.P.s have no power to step in and help.

“We welcome the proposal that senior housing managers have a statutory responsibility to keep tenants safe and a regulator that targets problems rather than simply responding to complaints”
  Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federation publishes this blog. Information about the Federation is available on 01228 522277 or 01228 532803