The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan has pledged to work with social housing providers to improve standards for tenants after new City Hall analysis revealed that one in seven (15 per cent)
of London’s social properties fail to meet the Government’s Decent Homes Standard.
Whilst the majority of social tenants are satisfied with their accommodation, three in 10 said they have considered making a complaint in the last year and, of those who complained, 59 per cent were unhappy with the response from their landlord or management organisation.
Campaigning to improve the quantity and quality of London’s social housing was one of the key manifesto commitments upon which the Mayor was re-elected last year. Sadiq has overseen record numbers of social and other genuinely affordable housing starts, with more new affordable homes started in London in 2019/20 than in any year since City Hall records began in 2002. However, he is aware of the significant concerns that many existing social tenants have about their homes and is determined to ensure their complaints are heard and acted upon.
Today, the Deputy Mayor for Housing, Tom Copley, will bring together social housing providers from across London, including some of London’s largest housing associations, to share best practice and discuss how they can improve conditions for social tenants. The Mayor and Deputy Mayor are also challenging providers to be proactive and do everything possible to ensure no social tenant lives in substandard housing.
Essential to improving social housing conditions is getting the complaints system right. ‘Complaints handling’ is itself the second-most common complaint category on which the Housing Ombudsman Service issues decisions, after ‘Property condition’. The Regulator is currently consulting on a new set of Tenant Satisfaction Measures that social housing providers will need to collect.
The Decent Homes Standard was introduced in 2000, with the intention of all social housing meeting these minimum targets by 2010. Originally progress was swift in London, with the number of non-decent social rented homes falling from 280,000 in 2006 to 120,000 in 2014, but progress has stalled since then. Government funding for bringing social homes up to decent homes standard came to an end in 2016. The 2019 English Housing Survey found 115,000 London homes remain below decent homes standards.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan said: “London’s housing crisis remains one of the greatest barriers to addressing the inequality we face in our city and I’m proud to have overseen record numbers of social and other genuinely affordable homes being started in London.
“However, while brand new high quality social rent homes are desperately needed, I’m determined we don’t forget those who are struggling in homes that do not meet basic standards. We need a step-change in approach as too many homes are still not in a decent condition.
“It is vital that providers of social housing assure tenants that their complaints are being listened to and acted on in a swift and timely manner to provide the comfort and security in their homes that all Londoners deserve.”
Karen Buck MP, Member of Parliament for Westminster North, who has campaigned for better standards in London’s social housing and will be taking part in Tom Copley’s roundtable said: “MPs, along with councillors and advice agencies, find themselves dealing with far too many cases of people in horrifying housing conditions.
“Whilst the private rented sector has a higher proportion of substandard housing, it is obvious that a serious problem exists in social housing too. I welcome the Mayor's focus on this issue. All tenants, regardless of who their landlord is, deserve a safe, decent home.”
Pat Turnbull, Regional Representative for the London Tenants’ Federation, said:'LTF members will be pleased that the Mayor of London is taking this move to improve conditions of social rented homes in London.
We agree that lengthy and frequently ineffective complaints systems are indeed a key element to address. Individual complaints are often symptoms of wider poor-quality management and maintenance practices. This includes failures to engage tenants collectively in the development of social landlord policy and practice.
We would welcome opportunities to engage with the Mayor and Deputy Mayor in their efforts on this issue.’ Photo by Jonathan Billinger, Wikimedia commons.