Party conferences, leasehold reform and what tenants want from their landlords – what #UKhousing has been talking about this month
Jess McCabe picks out the most interesting housing-related conversations that happened across social media over the past month
Much of the debate in #UKhousing this month has been related to the party conferences. The divide between how little time was spent on housing at the Conservative Party Conference, and how much time was dedicated to it at Labour’s, was picked up.
Tenant campaigner @Kwajotweneboa tweeted a picture with deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner with the message: “It was really good to see it [housing] front and centre of her conference speech this morning.”
Met with @AngelaRayner this afternoon to talk about housing and in particular the future of social housing #LabourConference23 🌹
— KWAJO- Social Issues Campaigner (@Kwajotweneboa) October 8, 2023
It was really good to see it front and centre of her conference speech this morning. pic.twitter.com/qUrdyYcYHZ
Housing correspondent for the i newspaper @Victoria_Spratt noted on X (formerly Twitter): “No mention of housing in Rishi Sunak’s conference speech. Barely any in Michael Gove’s speech. Curious, for the housing secretary. But, Labour have put their deputy leader in charge of housing and she’s speaking in interviews about how social housing changed her life…”
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The leasehold issue cropped up in Ms Rayner’s conference speech as well, which was celebrated by campaigners seeking to reform and abolish the tenure.
Also welcomed was a report from thinktank Policy Exchange, which settled on the need to ditch leasehold. @wharfgirl posted on X: “This is incredibly strong and goes well beyond @Law_Commission. Such well thought out advocacy from such an influential thinktank must surely strengthen the hand of @michaelgove,” adding pressure from across the political spectrum for action on this issue.
Kate Davies, former chief of Notting Hill Genesis, started a discussion on LinkedIn with the question: “What do tenants want?”
She observed that tenants generally want three things: repairs done quickly and to a high standard, landlords to listen carefully and resolve problems, and communication regarding what is going on, especially if things are not going to plan.
The post was widely liked and shared, and the discussion quickly evolved. Olu Olanrewaju, director at consultancy Altair, noted: “I will add, when we make mistakes, acknowledge and fix it quickly.”
Technology specialist Matt Ballantine said: “This is a pretty poor indictment of the UK’s social policy around housing for decades – that the social housing sector hasn’t geared itself around the quality of homes it provides, but assumes the quality is generally poor and gears itself around the coping strategies.”
He added there is a difference between focusing on a good repairs service and on a core purpose of providing good-quality homes.
On LinkedIn, BAME in Property posted a reminder to check in on staff who may be impacted directly or indirectly by the situation in Israel and Gaza. “Both anti-Semitism and Islamophobia are on the rise and many will be feeling the brunt of this,” the group wrote.
BAME in Property added: “Even simply asking, ‘How are you really?’ will go a long way.”
Comments on Inside Housing LinkedIn posts
In response to our story, Council plans to buy homes off landlords after tenants served eviction notice
Our news story on Newham’s decision to buy up properties where tenants have been threatened with eviction because it no longer wants to let the homes as temporary accommodation prompted an interesting discussion on our LinkedIn page.
While some comments welcomed the policy in principle, one construction specialist wrote: “Let’s hope that what they’re buying back is up to standard, otherwise the council will be footing rather large bills.”
In response to the Inside Housing Skills Audit 2023, published last month
Michelle Wood, who works in homeownership at a housing association, wrote: “I think diverse experience is a good thing, but some of this may be diluted at executive level with the requirement for formal housing qualifications.”
The Housing Ombudsman published its annual complaints review. The results were picked up on social media, with residents clearly interested in looking up their landlord and sharing screenshots of the results.
The headline figures included a 323% rise in severe maladministration findings. Former housing association chief executive Tom Murtha (@tomemurtha) posted on X: “Figures that shame all in social housing and those leaders who claimed that problems and failures were isolated. In order to overcome the issues we need to understand the root causes. Simply increasing regulation and warm words won’t cut it.”
@Doove71 responded: “Of course we have to realise the sector suddenly isn’t 3 times worse than it was last year, it’s just that focus from @Kwajotweneboa @itvnews et al are bringing existing weaknesses & failures to the fore.”
To which Mr Murtha replied: “Indeed. Failures that have been denied for many years. Some of us began raising these issues years ago and were vilified and ostracised for it.”
