I’ll be posting a podcast on this soon, but here’s the story for now:

A source tells me that Newham council is moving people who are in temporary housing into much worse temporary housing – to save money. Some families have children and disabled family members.

The plan is to move tens and even hundreds of people into cheaper housing this way.

The council is not polite as it goes about this. People say things start with a call from a random mobile number. They’re told by council officers that they must move to the cheaper places immediately or the council will make them homeless. Some officers tell people that they have to move because their landlord wants them to go – but their landlord says it is fine for them to stay.

Very poor conditions

The cheaper housing is chosen by the council. People have told me that the housing is often in very bad condition. Families with children have no hot water and broken boilers. Some of the places have no furniture, washing machines or fridges. Other places are dirty.

Needless to say, these families are struggling for housing and money. Some have disabled children. They not in a position to fight back.

Newham council no longer pre-checks temporary housing

I’ve seen a recent council report which says that Newham council no longer checks properties to see what condition they are in before people move in.

The document says that the council “should” contact people who are forced to move a day or so after the move to check that things are okay. The tenants I have spoken to say that this has not happened. They’ve had to chase the council about problems themselves.

This is a very big problem across London.

Special measures and a shadow team

I’ve been asking the council – including senior officers – about all of these problems for a week, with no response. I’ve posted the questions below.

One question is whether the council has been threatened with special measures. Special measures means an external person, or group of people, manage the council, often because the council is struggling financially.

The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government has already given Newham council a best value notice. This means the ministry has concerns about the way Newham council is run and that the council must work with the ministry to improve. The MHCLG is concerned about the council’s financial sustainability, governance and management of social housing.

As usual, it’s the people who most need council help with housing who are being made to pay the price for government and council decisions.

More soon.

These are the (so far unanswered) questions I’ve put to the council several times since last Thursday:

I’ve had sight of a document called “Temporary accommodation – review of pre-inspection work practice.”

This document says that the council is abandoning universal pre-inspections of temporary housing properties.

It also says a parallel (shadow) delivery team has been set up to oversee this system. I understand there is also a system where people in temp housing are being moved to cheaper properties.

I also understand that the council might be facing special measures.

Questions:

1) tenants already in temporary housing have raised concerns about being suddenly told to move into vastly inferior, cheaper properties which have not been inspected – and threatened with intentional homelessness if they do not go. Why is the council moving people in this way?

2) has the government indicated to the council that Newham will be put into special measures because of its housing and finance problems and/or for any other reason?

3) how does the council verify that non-inspected properties have up to date gas safety, electrical and fire certification? What is the “desktop verification” mentioned in the document discussed above? How reliable is it?

4) A recent social housing regulator report showed that Newham has a poor record in managing documentation and assessments, certainly in social housing. Is the council in a position and staffed to ensure thousands of non-inspected private and/or social temporary homes are checked at some point or if landlords are new providers? Has it increased the number of compliance officers since the new policy came to pass and if so, by how many?

5) The temporary accommodation inspection document says that the council “should” introduce a practice where all tenants who are placed in non-inspected properties are contacted in 24 hours so that they can raise any concerns. I’ve heard from residents who say they’ve emailed the council asking for suitability reviews and not heard back. Does the council believe it is contacting all tenants in 24 hours?

6) the report says that mandatory inspection “should” be retained for new providers, providers with compliance concerns and properties flagged via complaints or intelligence. Is this taking place?