The Week in Housing: uptick in buildings with fire safety defects revealed, and ombudsman asks is ‘decant’ a ‘stigmatising’ word?

In its latest severe maladministration report, the Housing Ombudsman challenged the approach of eight landlords to moving residents temporarily. The report shared learning from cases where residents were moved temporarily while works were carried out on a property, the processes of which led to distress and anxiety.

Housing ombudsman Richard Blakeway also took aim at the use of the term “decant”, which he described as “crude, dehumanising and stigmatising language for what can be a difficult and emotional process for any person”.

Is it time for a more considerate way to describe uprooting residents from their homes?

Tenant engagement body Tpas challenged landlords to “look beyond” simply meeting regulatory requirements as it updated its standards, with the aim of “setting a higher bar for tenant involvement and empowerment” across the sector.

The ombudsman’s report on temporary moves came as one London council paid out £4,500 in compensation after a decision to move a woman and her children from unsuitable temporary accommodation while repairs were carried out saw her blocked from bidding on a permanent home.

In a tribunal ruling, one current and one former employee of a major London housing association have been awarded a total of £95,000 after a tribunal ruled they had been discriminated against during an internal recruitment process.

Inside Housing heard of a “loophole” in shared ownership legislation, which one legal expert believes is poorly understood. It is related to shared owners who have purchased a flat on an estate where the landlord is not the freeholder are less able to extend their lease under the statutory route.

It is one of many issues that need looking into with this route to homeownership as MPs called for “urgent” reforms to shared ownership earlier this year, after an inquiry found uncapped service charges, rising rents and unfair maintenance costs mean it is unaffordable. The new government is yet to respond to the inquiry.

Speaking of loopholes, a group of experts warned that they are enabling developers to “opt out” of duties aimed at safeguarding natural environments, fuelling “widespread misuse”.

More questions for the Labour Party conference.

At the Liberal Democrat conference, one councillor called for a transition phase for councils to build up to the mandatory housing targets the Labour government is proposing as part of its planning reform.

Also, building on ‘grey belt’ land makes the “most sense” as a way to meet housing demand, the head of thinkthank Centre for London told the event in Brighton.

Meanwhile, the leader of the Liberal Democrats was pressed on his party’s reputation for nimbyism after he reiterated his support for a “community-led” approach to planning. Sir Ed Davey said: “We’ve called it a community-led approach, as opposed to the developer-led approach we’ve seen for decades.”

Regardless of what his party’s approach is called, Baroness Dorothy Thornhill warned that the UK is “not capable” of reaching a target to build 300,000 homes per year because of a construction workforce crisis.

A number of financial accounts this week spoke of the continued challenge landlords face in maintaining development targets at the same time as meeting the cost of remediation work and investing in their existing homes.

First up, repairs, impairment and building safety remediation costs dented The Guinness Partnership’s underlying operating margin by 8.6 percentage points.

Citizen has stopped including major repairs in its EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) loan covenant, as the landlord reported a bumper development year.

Orbit Group’s surplus was dented by lower property sales and higher interest costs, at the same time as it ramped up spending to improve its handling of damp and mould after an independent review.

Legal & General announced the sale of house builder Cala Homes for more than £1bn, six months after the firm reported falling profits.

Springfield Properties agreed new contracts totalling more than £50m for affordable housing delivery, solidifying its return to the sector after a change in Scottish government policy.

At the same time, Scottish politicians have warned that “acute” urban housing shortages are leaving thousands of students at risk of homelessness.

A survey has revealed that 80% of homelessness workers feel at risk of burnout, with the vast majority struggling to help people find housing, as demand for services soars.

This is in part why Inside Housing has launched its Housing Hires campaign, to promote the social housing sector as a place to work, and support people to find and develop careers at housing associations and councils.

Back to the annual survey, to which more than 1,000 frontline employees contributed earlier this year, it was revealed that 93% of respondents found it difficult or very difficult to find suitable accommodation for people accessing services.

A recent Inside Housing investigation found that statutory council services are becoming harder to access in some areas as local systems came under intense pressure, with the number of households in temporary accommodation rising to more than 117,000 nationally.

Moving on to this month’s Board Member Briefing. It looks at how cyber security is one of the sector’s biggest strategic risks but is often overlooked by boards focused on service delivery and financial stability. Peter Apps explores what boards need to know and how mitigating the risk of attack can improve performance more generally.

Continuing our coverage following the Grenfell Inquiry final report, Peter sets out why it will change how the social housing sector operates and picks out some of the standout points from the guidance.

Have a good weekend.

Stephen Delahunty, news editor, Inside Housing

Say hello: stephen.delahunty@oceanmedia.co.uk

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