Lib Dems say latest investigation into Haringey Council housing failures highlights “abysmal” record of Labour administration, reports James Cracknell

The Housing Ombudsman says it has uncovered a “culture of apathy” at Haringey Council that has led to “a distinct lack of ownership, accountability, and intrinsic motivation when handling complaints”.

An investigation was launched by the ombudsman after “persistent poor performance over damp and mould complaints”. In its resulting report on the council, published today (Tuesday 4^th), it identifies a series of “shortfalls” which includes “no evidence of learning to prevent failings reoccurring” and “little evidence of contrition or a resolution-focused approach to complaints handling”.

The report is just the latest to examine failings over housing at the council, which insourced its previous arms-length provider Haringey Homes last year. Earlier this year, the Regulator of Social Housing found the council had failed to complete 4,000 high-risk fire safety works and did not have up-to-date electrical safety reports for thousands of homes. It also found more than 100 properties had serious hazards and nearly 5,000 did not meet minimum social housing standards.

In response to the Housing Ombudsman’s own damning report, the council has issued a statement admitting its management of social homes in the borough has not been good enough. It says it has established a housing improvement board, “to provide oversight for improvement across the landlord function”.

But Dawn Barnes, the opposition Liberal Democrat group’s spokesperson for housing, said: “Haringey residents deserve far better than this abysmal, failing service.

“The Labour Party have run our borough for over 60 years, and they have nowhere left to hide on this issue. They have failed tenants and leaseholders again and again, and no amount of empty promises will make up for the appalling negligence uncovered in this report.”

The Housing Ombudsman’s investigation was initiated by concerns about the council’s approach to leaks, damp and mould, with more than three-quarters of complaints being upheld since 1st April 2021 where leaks, damp and mould formed part of the investigation.

It also follows the ombudsman issuing a ‘complaint handling failure order’ to the landlord in December 2022 regarding its approach to compensation, compliance with ombudsman orders, and handling of complaints.

The special report is formed of 32 individual investigations and engagement with the council over the last six months. The ombudsman made 77 findings across the cases, 18 of which involved severe maladministration, mostly for major repairs, damp and mould and complaint handling. The overall uphold rate was 82%.

In one case, the council withdrew all services from a resident for a period of twelve months after reports of unacceptable behaviour. The resident disputed this, and the landlord could not provide supporting evidence, yet it continued to withdraw all services including not carry out repairs works.

Housing Ombudsman boss Richard Blakeway said: “The findings in this report are stark, with failings across a range of areas which need prompt action.

“The landlord [council] recognises the current approach is not working for residents, services or its teams, and that the whole organisation needs to change its approach. There was frequently a loss of focus on achieving the right outcome for residents.

“The senior leadership is to be commended for the focus it is bringing to improving housing management and starting to put in place the resources and structures to deliver change. We look forward to working with the landlord on these changes.

“This report also offers salient lessons for other landlords, particularly councils.

“This includes those planning to bring Almos [arms-length management organisations] back in-house or where leaseholders form a significant part of its responsibilities. Too often leaseholders can be failed, with a lack of clarity on roles and responsibilities between landlord and leaseholder. These poor outcomes need to end.”

In its statement in response to the findings, the council said: “We recognise that residents in Haringey deserve the best possible housing services and that is why we brought the Almo back in-house last summer, as it became clear that we were not managing or maintaining our homes as well as we should have been.

“We take the ombudsman report very seriously and we are determined to learn from the findings to improve the services we provide to the residents of Haringey.

“Among the steps we will take to deliver on the ombudsman recommendations, we will update our vulnerability, safeguarding and unreasonable behaviour policies; strengthen our approach to leaseholder complaints; improve management of disrepair, damp and mould; improve knowledge and information management; update our complaints handling process and compensation policy; publish our resident experience improvement plan.”

To read the full report and the list of failings found against Haringey Council:
Visit housing-ombudsman.org.uk/2023/07/04/ombudsman-uncovers-culture-of-apathy-at-london-landlord-after-special-investigation-report/

Update (5th July):

Haringey Council leader Peray Ahme and Andy Donald, council chief executive, said: “We fully recognise that residents in Haringey deserve the best possible housing services and after bringing our Almo in-house last summer, it became clear that we were not managing or maintaining our homes as well as we should have been.

“This is why we took the bold decision to invest almost £5m, one of the largest of its kind in the country, to improve the quality of our services, and introduced a far-reaching housing improvement plan that will act in the best interests of our residents.

“Key amongst the changes is to adopt a ‘zero tolerance’ approach to damp and mould, with a comprehensive policy in place, a proactive action plan up and running, and the worst cases already being tackled.

“Other major priorities include a complete overhaul of the repairs service so that tenants do not have to wait long periods for issues to be resolved and ensuring improved performance in respect of building safety compliance. At the same time, we are upskilling our staff, making sure they are actively visible to residents, and that systems are upgraded and easy to use.

“Running through the entirety of our housing improvement plan is a focus on putting our residents at the heart of everything that we do. After all, nobody knows our homes better than those who live in them.

“The plan is examined and monitored by an improvement board, chaired by our chief executive. This high-level involvement underlines the determination of the entire council leadership to transform council housing in Haringey.

“We are focused on giving our tenants and leaseholders good quality, secure homes, so they can have the best chance of a healthy, fulfilled life. Residents want to see action being taken and that’s exactly what will happen over the coming weeks, months and years.”

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