Improvements to social housing in Haringey – but 20% remain below 'decent' standard

Just over 80% of Haringey Council’s social housing stock now meets the government’s ‘decent homes standard’, up from 67.5% three years ago, reports Grace Howarth, Local Democracy Reporter

Haringey Council has reduced the number of its social homes that fall below national standards to around 20%, a report has revealed.

The performance report said 80.7% of Haringey Council’s social housing stock met the government’s ‘decent homes standard’, which sets minimum requirements homes are expected to meet. This number is up from 67.5% three years ago.

The standard states all social housing should be in a reasonable state of repair and have reasonably modern facilities.

The Labour-run council said the “vast majority” of the work to close the 20% gap, a target for 2027/28, would be around “external works” which they were “confident” they could achieve.

The council’s housing, planning and development scrutiny panel this week called the rise from 67.5% to 80% since 2022 “brilliant” but chair Adam Small admitted that the challenge of raising the standard of the remaining 20% of non-compliant homes would be “quite significant”.

Jahedur Rahman, director of housing at Haringey, said: “We didn’t have an adequate supply chain to deliver that [external] work.

“The vast majority of the work over the next three years will be around external work. We’re well on the way with our ‘internal’ decent homes work.”

He added: “We are confident, we know it’s going to be a challenge.”

Cllr Small pointed out the target may be unachievable because, for a property to be considered decent, it “should be free of any category one hazards” which includes damp and mould.

“We don’t know the status of every property in the borough that needs damp and mould works,” he said.

“So I’m unsure how we’ll be able to get to [100%] decent homes by 2028 without also closing that gap on the internal works in property.”

Jahedur said the council had access to 75% of “internal properties” and 90% of “communal areas” and a “good” understanding of what the condition of those properties were.

He said: “The 25% where we were not able to get access, we’re prioritising those again this year as part of that 20% [gap].”

In the detailed figures, 12,516 council homes were rated decent in March 2025 out of a stock of 15,518.

In 2022, 5,037 were rated as “non-decent” but this decreased to 3,002 by 2025.

Neighbouring Enfield Council, meanwhile, was recently given a top rating by the Regulator of Social Housing, with 94% of its social homes meeting the decent homes standard.

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