Housing Quality Magazine July 2022

@housing2022 – Rebecca Bryant OBE, CEO, Resolve ASB & Andy Moore, Partner, MSB Solicitors

Housing Ombudsman makes 1,250 remedies during final quarter of financial year

The Housing Ombudsman’s latest Insight report covering January to March 2022 shows an increase in cases coming into its formal remit for investigation. The service received 1,013 and made 1,250 orders and recommendations to put things right, an average of … Read more

Regulator concludes London housing association ‘non-compliant’

The Regulator of Social Housing has concluded that Shepherds Bush Housing Association is non-compliant with the governance element of the economic standards and downgraded it to G3 status. Following an in-depth assessment and reactive engagement, RSH has found that Shepherds Bush … Read more

Housing Ombudsman finds severe maladministration for Habinteg’s handling of hate-crime incident

Habinteg Housing Association’s “considerable failings in responding to reports of a hate-crime incident along with its failure to consider the impact of them on the resident” led to a finding of severe maladministration by the Housing Ombudsman. The resident reported … Read more

Gove writes to second housing provider over maladministration findings

Housing Secretary, Michael Gove, has written to Housing Plus Group after a maladministration finding due to bedbugs and infestation. The letter follows a similar one he wrote to Clarion Housing Group after its “repeated failures”. In the letter, Gove said: … Read more

Government to ban private landlords not letting to those on benefits as part of new PRS White Paper

The government has revealed its Fairer Private Rented Sector White Paper, including making it “illegal for landlords or agents to have blanket bans on renting to families with children or those in receipt of benefits”. The White Paper comes out … Read more

Housing Ombudsman finds severe maladministration for complaint involving bedbug infestation 

The Housing Ombudsman found severe maladministration for Stafford and Rural Homes (now Housing Plus Group) when dealing with a resident’s complaint about delayed repairs and a bedbug infestation. There were unacceptable delays in the landlord’s response to the complaint at … Read more

Government details cost of living payment plans

The government has unveiled how it plans to support people through the cost of living crisis, after the announcement a few weeks ago from Chancellor Rishi Sunak. The first instalment of the £650 for qualifying low income households in England, … Read more

Worries about the rising costs of living, Great Britain: April to May 2022 – ONS

The ONS has published its latest research into the impact of the rising cost of living in Great Britain. Here are some of the main findings: Around three in four adults (77%) reported feeling very or somewhat worried about the … Read more

Sector bodies join together to tackle ‘poor quality housing’

The National Housing Federation (NHF) and Chartered Institute for Housing (CIH) will set up an independent panel to make “urgent recommendations for tackling poor quality housing in the sector”. The organisations say it is in response to the investigation from … Read more

Social Housing Regulation Bill formally introduced to parliament

The Government will introduce the Social Housing (Regulation) Bill into parliament today, following on from its inclusion in the Queen’s Speech. Failing social housing landlords could “face unlimited fines and Ofsted-style inspections” under the new plans, and the Regulator of Social Housing will … Read more

Latest member question: tenancy audits

Can you help? A member would like to hear your views on the following: The aim of my project is to use customer interaction to drive forward service improvement using the Annual Home Visits to achieve this. These home visits … Read more

Housing Ombudsman calls for organisations to ‘resource and respect’ complaint teams

The Housing Ombudsman issued 32 complaint handling failure orders between January and March 2022, more than any previous quarter, bringing the total for the first full year since they were introduced to 101. The Ombudsman’s latest quarterly report, which names … Read more

Opinion: Codesign in the world of housing

By Sarah Thomas, Chief Operating Officer, Peabody We often talk about our desire to be customer-centric, or to put customers at the heart of our organisations. When it comes to service design, I think there’s a more useful way of … Read more

Gove writes to housing association over ‘deeply disappointing’ Ombudsman report

Housing Secretary Michael Gove has written to Clarion over their recent Housing Ombudsman reports. It comes as part of the new Social Housing Regulation Bill proposals to “name and shame” landlords who are not performing. In the letter, Gove says he is … Read more

Chancellor announces cost of living crisis help

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced a package of measures for low-income households to help with the cost of living crisis. The measures including a new, one-off £650 payment to more than eight million low-income households on Universal Credit, Tax Credits, … Read more

Housing Ombudsman finds severe maladministration for Hackney’s damp and mould delays

The Housing Ombudsman found severe maladministration for the London borough of Hackney’s substantial delays in dealing with damp, mould and leaks at a resident’s home. The delays contributed to further deterioration of the issues and had health and safety implications … Read more

10 million English families face fuel stress, warning

Raising the energy price cap to around £2,800 in October could lead to 9.6 million families across England falling into fuel stress this winter, the Resolution Foundation has warned. Following news that the chief executive of Ofgem has written to … Read more

Opinion: How we’re working to address, overcome and end domestic abuse

By Jackie Capewell – Operations Manager at Glow, part of Honeycomb Group At Glow, we’ve been providing domestic abuse outreach provision since 2004. Our services are recognised by customers, the police and other local agencies as being highly effective because … Read more

Housing’s Next Generation 2022: Top 20 announced

Back for its third year, our Housing’s Next Generation competition attracted entries from all over the sector, from housing associations and local authorities to supply chain partners and housing co-operatives. The judges looked at several criteria when shortlisting, including showing … Read more

Severe maladministration for housing association’s complaint handling failings

The Housing Ombudsman has found severe maladministration for a housing association’s failings in dealing with a complaint from a resident with vulnerabilities. Clarion’s responses didn’t sufficiently acknowledge all the issues raised by the resident in her complaint or the reasons for delays … Read more

Queen’s Speech: Bill to ‘improve the regulation of social housing’ confirmed

Government has used the Queen’s Speech to put forward a series of housing-related pieces of legislation for the upcoming year. The speech, this year given by Prince Charles for the first time, included bills on social housing regulation and Levelling … Read more

Allpay reveals results from annual household bills survey 2022

Findings from allpay’s household bills survey 2022 have outlined that for consecutive years, there is reduced consumer confidence in paying household bills, with the ongoing decline in Direct Debit uptake and a continuing need for cash across the social renters … Read more

57% jump in the proportion of households cutting back on food or missing meals altogether

New data released by The Food Foundation shows a rapid 57% jump in the proportion of households cutting back on food or missing meals altogether in just three months. Food banks are reporting that users are increasingly requesting products that … Read more

Housing figure Steve Douglas CBE has passed away

St Mungo’s has announced the sudden death of its CEO, Steve Douglas CBE. The organisation made the announcement with “deep shock and sadness” after he passed away suddenly at his home on Sunday morning, 8 May. The 57 year old leaves … Read more

Sector raises concern about ‘very worrying’ increase in PRS evictions

Latest homelessness statistics from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has shown a 17% increase in the number of evictions from the private rented sector, compared to last quarter. It is 168% higher than the same quarter last year, … Read more

Opinion: Taking the humour out of the word ‘stalking’

This Stalking Awareness Week, Weaver Vale Housing Trust’s Safeguarding Practitioner, Carol Miller, makes a powerful argument for why we need to take the humour out of the word “stalking” Everyone deserves to be protected from violence, abuse and harassment. Stalking … Read more

All benefit claimants to be moved over to Universal Credit by end of 2024

All benefit claimants will be moved over to Universal Credit by the end of 2024, with moves from legacy schemes resuming next month, the Department for Work and Pensions has announced. The restart follows a pause to the process during … Read more

Severe maladministration for Clarion’s repeated complaint handling failures

The Housing Ombudsman found severe maladministration for Clarion’s repeated failure to respond to a resident’s complaints and her requests to escalate them. The resident had regularly reported a leaking roof, damp and mould and cracks to the interior of her … Read more