Haringey Council 'returns to compliance' on housing standards

The Regulator of Social Housing confirms it has removed the local authority from its ‘watchlist’ after improvements made in recent years, reports James Cracknell

Haringey architecture — Broadwater Farm Estate seen from Gloucester Road in Tottenham

Haringey Council has “returned to compliance” on the standard of its housing – nearly three years after it was slammed for putting residents “at risk”.

The Regulator of Social Housing confirmed this week that it had removed Haringey from its watchlist.

At the start of 2023 the council was slammed by the same regulator for failing to complete a significant number of fire safety tasks, including 4,000 that were deemed high risk.

Six months earlier, the council had brought its former arm’s length management company, Homes for Haringey, back in-house.

The council’s deputy leader described this week’s news as evidence the civic centre was “turning things around” after years of criticism for its housing standards.

The council has made thousands of fire and electrical safety fixes to its homes and raised around 1,000 properties to the government’s ‘decent homes standard’ by “overhauling its governance, data management and compliance processes”.

Sarah Williams, Haringey Council’s deputy leader and cabinet member for housing and planning said: “When we took our housing service back in-house in 2022, we were determined to transform it for the benefit of our residents.

“Thanks to an almost £5m cash injection, a detailed plan of action and the commitment of our housing team and our Housing Improvement Board in delivering it – we are turning things round and giving our residents the high level of assurance they deserve.

“While the regulator’s announcement is very welcome, we won’t be complacent. We will maintain a laser-like focus on continued improvement so we can build on this important milestone.

“We are grateful to our colleagues and external stakeholders, including the regulator with whom we’ve maintained regular dialogue, for the guidance and challenge they’ve given to drive us forward.

“We’d also like to thank our residents for lending us their voice through our new resident engagement structure – something I’m especially proud of. We will continue to be open, to listen and learn.”

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