Greens claim previous Labour-led council 'misled' housing regulator

It follows a judgement by the government’s housing regulator this week warning the council must fix “very serious failings” in its housing provision, reports Joe Ives, Local Democracy Reporter

Council leader Mark Blake’s YouTube address

Haringey Labour “misled” the government’s housing regulator over serious fire risks on council estates, the council’s current Green administration has alleged.

The comments follow publication of a judgement by the government’s Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) on Wednesday (28th), warning the council must fix “very serious failings” in its housing provision.

The damning verdict referred to a litany of serious failures, including the council’s current backlog of “remedial fire safety actions”, including more than 1,400 as categorised as “high risk”.

As well as issuing a statement through the council, Haringey Greens published their own verdict, alleging that the borough’s previous Labour administration had “misled” housing safety regulators “over fire risk in council estates”.

The minority-control Green administration came to power in May, following the local elections. The result ended more than 50 years of Labour control of Haringey’s local authority.

In a press release published on the same day as the RSH findings, Haringey Greens reported that, in 2023, the regulator found that the then Labour-run council had “put thousands of tenants at potential risk by failing to meet health and safety requirements for fire and electrical safety”.

The Greens also said that, in November last year, the council had written to the regulator, “stating that it had fixed all high risk, overdue fire safety issues”.

This week’s report, the Greens argued, “reveals that this was untrue”, adding: “In fact, Haringey’s Labour administration failed to disclose thousands of overdue fire safety remedial actions to the r, despite these risks being known by the council”.

These include the council not reporting its failure to repair or replace fire alarms and carry out structural fixes to prevent fire.

“Particularly concerning,” the Greens said, was the previous administration’s failure to make necessary changes to external cladding.

Tammy Hymas, the council’s cabinet member for housing, alleged “that the Labour-run council knew that their homes weren’t safe from fire, and yet failed to tell the public body that exists to prevent another Grenfell”.

“Any Labour councillors responsible must now own up and step down,” she added.

Council leader Mark Blake – a former Labour councillor – said: “Over 50 years of Labour Party rule in Haringey left us with the worst possible assessment of our council housing.”

Cllr Blake, who also published a video message on YouTube in response to the findings, promised council tenants that his administration “will always tell you the truth and we will overhaul a housing service that has let you down”.

In an abrupt address to Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Housing Secretary Angela Rayner, the council leader said: “You say you want good council housing. Fund it.”

Responding to the RSH findings, Luke Cawley-Harrison, leader of the Liberal Democrat group at Haringey Council, said: “The failures uncovered by this report are appalling. Haringey’s record on social housing – on timely repairs, dealing with damp and mould, and keeping tenants safe – is utterly indefensible.

“That the regulator even found serious failings in ‘treating tenants with fairness and respect’ should make those involved hang their heads in shame.

“The previous Labour administration completely failed our tenants and leaseholders, and the party should now investigate the extent to which its councillors were complicit in Haringey’s deceit of the regulator – and hold anyone involved accountable.

“We also need both a proper council investigation into who knew about Haringey’s dishonesty, and urgent action to rectify the failed housing service.”

In a statement on Wednesday, Haringey Labour described the housing regulator’s report as “damning”, saying it had identified “especially unacceptable failures in fire safety”.

Referring to its time in charge of the local authority, Haringey Labour said: “Throughout the regulatory period, the council engaged closely with the regulator and as politicians, we were given assurances of positive progress.

“We’re deeply disturbed that the regulator believes they were not provided with full and transparent information by the council. We support a full investigation into what information was shared with the regulator.

“We knew that Homes for Haringey was failing our residents and took the decision to dismantle the arms-length body and bring housing services back in-house in 2022. We prioritised making homes safe, establishing the cross-party Housing Improvement Board chaired by the council’s chief executive and provided multi-million pound investment in the housing stock.

“We will be seeking action from the council to ensure housing services are made compliant and that homes are safe and secure.”

The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) approached Haringey Labour for a direct response to the accusations made against it, as well as the call by Cllr Hymas for any potentially responsible councillors to stand down. But yesterday (Thursday 29th) the group told the LDRS that it did not yet wish to add to its initial statement, made on Wednesday.

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