END THIS FAILURE OF TENANTS SAYS MICHAEL GOVE

 

Rishy attack on rubbishy housing 

bodies

New Year 2023 and a new start for social housing is getting underway as the Rishy Sunak government  is on the attack

There is a warning for rubbishy housing associations that their failures must end. There is new hope for tenants getting together. And there is optimism for the future of social housing from the author of a new book tracing past successes of  council estates.

The warning follows criticism by the Housing Ombudsman of Clarion, the UK’s largest housing association, for its “unacceptable” handling of a resident’s request to be removed from a tenancy.

Maladministration was also found in the landlord’s complaint-handling.

Clarion was also handed severe maladministration notices in April, May and July this year and was the subject of a wider investigation by the ombudsman.

In response to the latest findings,Michael Gove the housing secretary said: “Once again, Clarion has failed its tenants and refused to treat people with respect.

“This must end. After four maladministration notices in one year, I am now considering appropriate action.

”The new hope for tenants came when more than 250  from across England met last week for the launch of a panel to improve the quality of social housing

The new panel will ensure social housing tenants will no longer be “denied a voice”, according to  Michael Gove, speaking ahead of its first session .

The government said in March that it was launching the Social Housing Quality Resident Panel.

It forms part of a series of reforms, including the newSocisl Housing Regulation Bill to improve tenant engagement and the regulation of the social housing sector in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire.

 Optimism about the future comes from the social housing historian,Mr John Boughton (pictured) speaking about his new book, A History of Council Housing in 100 Estates.

Having tracked this history, how does Mr Boughton feel about the future?  He  told the social housing magazine Inside Housing:”There are reasons for optimism, but also – when you consider how far we have fallen from the days when one in three people lived in secure council housing and the stilted progress in so many areas despite a century of work – reasons for despair.

 “It’s easy to be caught in the immediate political moment when there’s no reason to be positive whatsoever. But councils want to build. And I do think we are moving forward, moving to an era where public housing is going to be more important, more valued, better understood as a necessary component of a mixed economy of housing.”

"One of the best ways to understand this is to simply look around at the estates that have risen from the ground over the past 100 years and the enormous role they played in increasing the living standards of the millions who have passed through them in that time".

Mr Boughton’s  book is a vital record of that.

 Community Voice Carlisle is the blog of Carlisle Tenants` and Residents`Federation. Information about the Federation is available on 01228 5222

CHURCHILL WAY BEATS THE THATCHER WAY

 

The rotten housing

bosses` rule is doomed

The headline in a recent issue of The Times newspaper read:”It`s time for another council house  revolution”.The  article that followed that headline described the revolution which is now surely coming.

The revolution is coming at a time when the floodgates have suddenly been swept  away and rotten rule of  housing associations with their inefficient and undemocratic ways has been exposed.

The rotten rule has been attacked for nearly a quarter of a century by this blog`s publisher, Carlisle Tenants` and Residents` Federationin its campaigning that housing associations are  accountable to no one but themselves. They do just as they like

Now we know they are vulnerable. Their rotten rule is finished because the government has stepped in.It  has cut off their cash supply and told  them to get  their house in order.

How we reached this necessary position is related in The Times  article which was written by Emma Duncan. This is what she wrote:

“ `Housing is the first of the social services` .No, that wasn`t an opposition politician needling the government about its failure to solve the housing crisis. It was Winston Churchill in his thundering introduction to the 1951 Tory Manifesto.

 “It has taken the death of a two-year-old in a mouldy flat to make us realise how right he was. Britain is a rich country and yet the story of Awaab Ishak(pictured) is Dickensian.He died because we failed to satisfy the most basic of human needs. The main reason  is that we have taken a Thatcherite rather than a Churchillian view of housing.

“The Thatcherite revolution overturned the postwar default of state command of the economy and replaced it with the assumption that the market would dominate. In much of life that was the right thing to do. The state had bogged up industry and communications for instance and the market improved the quality and quantity of what was on offer.

“But  demand brings forth supply, people have plenty of choice and providers are under pressure to improve qua;ity. That`s not the case in housing.”

Emma Duncan`s article comes to this hopeful conclusion:”Let`s hope the death of Awaab Ishak pushes us to change our system so people no longer have to live in houses that kill them”

 Community Voice Carlisle is the blog of Carlisle Tenants` and Residents`Federation. Information about the Federation is available on 01228 522277.

GLARING ERRORS ARE NOT WHAT THIS PAPER IS ALL ABOUT

 

The Times deserves

to be

slated!

The Times newspaper  has slipped up this week  in its report  of  the Lake District planners banning the use of Welsh slate on a development at Braithwaite. The planners insist on Lake District  slate.

That decision will have the backing of many local people who have long  considered  Welsh slate to be very inferior in quality to the local slate.

 And local  slate, apart from being more in keeping with this area is a lovely shade of green which is much more attractive  than the drab black of its  Welsh counterpart.

Interestingly, the green colouring is caused by chlorine in the rock.

Sadly, the Times report is  not  “in keeping”. Certainly not as “in keeping” as is the  Lake District slate because it contains a glaring error.  And errors are not  what  the Times is all about.

Lake District slate house at Coniston

The error is the report`s claim that the Cockermouth, Keswick and Penrith railway connected the Lake District with North Wales which is the home of the Welsh slate.

Of course, there never has been such a connection. Most people would say such a connection was impossible. And the two areas are nearly 200 miles apart.

 The Times claims in a headline over the report  that  the planners had “hit the roof” over the use of Welsh slate.

In view of that headline,Times readers are entitled to “hit the roof” over their paper`s inaccurate reporting.

Put it another way: The Times deserves to be slated

 Community Voice Carlisle is the blog of Carlisle Tenants` and Residents`Federation. Information about the Federation is available on 01228 522277.

`A PARTICULAR THORNY ISSUE`

Riverside in new `fat cat` pay rise row  

 The boss`s pay at Riverside Association rose by a massive 9.9 per cent  during the past year, according to an annual survey published this week by the influential social housing magazine, Inside Housing.

Chief Executive Carol Matthews picked up £264,392. The 9.9 per cent increase by the Liverpool-based association is more than five times the average increase of 1.8 per cent for the 155 U.K. housing associations surveyed.

The 1.8 per cent  increase was more than the increase a year ago. “This year’s results are likely to be a particularly thorny issue coming amid huge inflation, the cost of living and energy crises, and debates on capping or freezing social housing rents to protect tenants" ,says Inside Housing.

The campaigning group, Carlisle Tenants` and Residents`Federation  criticised the massive pay rise for Ms. Matthews.

 A spokesman said: This is not the first time that Riverside has led the way in over – the - top rises for its bosses. And it is not the first time that we have  pointed out that Riverside continues with these fat cat rises because it can continue with them.... it is accountable only to itself”

    Community Voice Carlisle is the blog of Carlisle Tenants` and Residents`Federation. Information about the Federation is available on 01228 522277.