By Alistair McIntosh, HQN CEO

What should social housing landlords do now?

The Grenfell Inquiry report goes into the heart-wrenching circumstances of each and every death. God, that will be so sore for anyone that knew the poor souls. We have one job to do and that’s to make sure we never put people through this agony ever again. Of course we must examine every single one of the findings in a methodical way. But here are my first thoughts.

It’s time to hire better people with solid qualifications; the tenacity of top detectives and who are as honest as the day is long. Grenfell is what happens if you let standards drop.

Rogue elements in the construction industry are too sharp by half. It looks like they’ve played social housing landlords for fools. We need people who can cross swords with these ‘experts’. The inquiry says that “Kingspan knowingly created a false market in insulation”. They took advantage of the lack of technical knowledge in housing. Close that gap. And even then, we can’t rest. Someone somewhere will find a way of relieving the gullible of their cash. Don’t let that be you.

It turns out that key advisors on fire safety made up their qualifications. Surely, we can get better at checking CVs. All-powerful chief executives were simply out of their depth. Too few people asked the right questions. But after hearing the answers, they were none the wiser.

Honesty is a basic requirement in public service. Do we see enough of it in housing? Back in 1991 the government ordered a hush-up of the Knowsley Heights cladding fire. The TMO at Kensington clung to this tradition by keeping bad news from the board. No one is very clear on who knew what and by when on fire safety under the last government. The inquiry lays bare the power imbalance between executives and board members. Even excellent board members at the TMO couldn’t get at the facts. Is this an isolated case? How do you know?

“You just need to like people” was the basis on which the director of housing at Southwark in 1972 used to pick staff. You can watch him say it on the Archive section of the BBC iPlayer. Have we moved too far away from this? The inquiry knows full well that sometimes tenants get frustrated and aren’t diplomatic. But this doesn’t mean that they’re wrong. You do get the feeling that in some places there’s almost a war going on between landlords and certain tenants. The inquiry was not impressed with the TMO looking to resort to libel proceedings against residents.

We’re managing complex buildings and complex relations with residents. That’s just the job we sign up for. The TMO simply didn’t know enough about its tenants to help on the night or during the days after. Please don’t make that mistake.

Of course money is a factor. We had a government that wanted to cut costs by slashing regulation and the council wanted savings on the Grenfell works. If ever there was an example of penny wise and pound foolish, it’s this.

Years ago, I recall a coroner’s report that said in the end the case was a “failure of the human heart”. Those words are ringing in my ears after reading the Grenfell Inquiry’s final report.