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No decision taken on decanting residents from block with fire safety concerns, Southern Housing says
Southern Housing said it has not taken a decision on decanting residents from a block with fire safety issues after criticism from a residents group.
The Social Housing Action Campaign (SHAC) is supporting the residents of Millicent Buller House in Earl’s Court in what they believe is a plan to evict them from their homes.
SHAC said the residents were recently informed by an unsigned letter that the scheme is to be closed and disposed of.
Southern denied it has made a decision on the future of the building, and said it has been speaking with the residents to help understand their housing needs.
One of the residents, Gareth, told SHAC that he believes that “Southern is using underhand methods to sell off irreplaceable stock to fund housing association inefficiencies, commercialisation, and the constructive neglect of their tenants and residents”.
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But Southern said it has not threatened to evict anyone, but it does consider Millicent Buller House to be an ageing Victorian building that does not meet high mobility and safety standards.
The residents also claimed that the landlord has not explored enough options for bringing the building up to standard have not been properly explored or costed.
Southern explained that the London Fire Brigade have raised serious concerns about the ability of residents to self-evacuate and that the interim plans in place are not viable in the long term.
The landlord said: “We know moving home under these circumstances is rarely easy, but we’re doing all we can to support our residents every step of the way. Keeping our residents safe remains our priority.
“We’ve met and remain in close contact with the London Fire Brigade who raised serious concerns about elderly residents being unable to self evacuate from the five storey building in case of a fire.
“The building is not compartmentalised like modern buildings, so a fire could spread from flat to flat. The brigade asked us to put 24-hour evacuation stewards in place to support residents who’d be unable to get out safely if there was a fire.
“We’ve put evacuation stewards in the building on the brigade’s advice, however this is not a satisfactory long-term solution.
“We’ve not finalised our decision on the future of the building, but the whole building would likely need to be empty if we decided to keep and modernise it.
“If we sold the building, we’d reinvest any income back into building and maintaining our homes. We shared our concerns with all residents in April this year.”
Southern maintains that its resettlement officers have been visiting the block weekly to listen to residents and any decision will be made in agreement with them.
The association added: “We’ve provided them with details of support we’re able to offer. We’re also working with the local authority to ensure those residents requiring enhanced help are supported.”
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