Croydon flats - on the news

[Blinkinblimey]

I just saw a family in sopping wet flats where they were at risk of electrocution.

Fucking horrendous. You wouldn’t want to visit let alone live there.

How do housing teams allow this to happen? It really shouldn’t take the 10 o’ clock news to highlight appalling living conditions.

Feel so sad and angry.

@LBOCS2

A number of PP have mentioned licensing for landlords in their local areas - one of the truly ridiculous things about all of this is that private landlords ALL require a licence to let their properties in Croydon. The council runs a vast money-making scheme under the premise of having 'fit for housing' lets, again to the tune of around £600 just to apply. And yet put their own tenants in conditions like this, it beggars belief. Those poor people.

Typical. Its always struck me as faintly ridiculous that a private landlord like me has to pay around £1500 - £2000 per year for an HMO license, all the various checks that are essential for it and the latest wheeze of an upgrade for something like a fireproof letterbox that can only be supplied and installed by a former council employee's firm.

Yet for most of this time, council properties rented to families with children haven't even had to have a mains operated smoke alarm with 30 minute battery back up.

For instance. Many other examples. If my property was as damp and mouldy as some council properties not even as bad as those shown on tv, I would be shut down and probably fined heavily by the local council.

And all of these requirements have pushed up rents too!

We got our letter about the council tax going up today too! Bloody people at Croydon council make me sick. Heads should be rolling for wasting the people's money.

Those poor poor people. There will be so many more out there too. Too many people
High up pulling strings and then you get people right at the bottom ignored in conditions like this.

Utterly disgusting.

Does anyone know the family ? I would really like to pay for a deposit to get them out of there.
I’m absolutely shocked.

Follow up on ITV NOW

They've been put into a Premier Inn with no way of cooking meals...

Oh god that’s shocking! Honestly so bad I could cry for those poor people no one should be left to live in those conditions.

I posted about these issues a lot under my previous username HelenaDove A search will bring up loads of similar experiences.

Wow the news is being really harsh on Croydon Council!

www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jul/21/the-real-cost-of-regeneration-social-housing-private-developers-pfi?CMP=share_btn_fb

Add message | Report | Message poster | Quote | See allHelenaDove Sat 29-Jul-17 01:33:28
Hodkinson carried out a qualitative survey of 14 homes refurbished by Rydon that had been the subject of a huge number of complaints. Showers were fitted next to electric fans. A toilet was installed so close to a wall that you could only sit on it sideways. Some households went for days without electricity and weeks without cooking facilities. Cupboards were fitted with wrongly size doors. Tenants who complained reported that they were treated dismissively. One remembered the site supervisor saying to him, “It ain’t Chelsea, mate.” Regenter’s out-of-hours emergency line linked to the wrong database, so callout engineers weren’t available. The striking thing was how long problems could drag out: one family’s flat was flooded in January 2014, and repairs weren’t even scheduled till September. Two years later, their flat still hadn’t been fully repaired and redecorated. Even at the most straightforward level, the work wasn’t done to a decent standard.

When approached for comment, Rydon said that since the complaints were made, three years ago, attempts have been made to remedy the problems. They said the comments were not reflective of most of the residents, and that there was a good level of satisfaction among the residents now.

For tenants with more complicated requirements, the situation was worse. The Cifuentes family, one of whom used a wheelchair, was left without ramps, hoists or any means of escape in a fire, and without a lock on the front door. Repairs were so slow and haphazard that, at one point, the family had to move out for over a month, and the disabled member could only have his needs met by going into a respite unit – whereupon they were threatened with losing their carer’s allowance, their disability allowance and their car.

I suspected they would be housed without cooking provisions. They should get a food allowance but they would still struggle as costs of not being able to prepare food would be high.

@GreenlandTheMovie

Wow the news is being really harsh on Croydon Council!

Good. Rightly so. It’s inexcusable

@MercyBooth

www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jul/21/the-real-cost-of-regeneration-social-housing-private-developers-pfi?CMP=share_btn_fb

Add message | Report | Message poster | Quote | See allHelenaDove Sat 29-Jul-17 01:33:28
Hodkinson carried out a qualitative survey of 14 homes refurbished by Rydon that had been the subject of a huge number of complaints. Showers were fitted next to electric fans. A toilet was installed so close to a wall that you could only sit on it sideways. Some households went for days without electricity and weeks without cooking facilities. Cupboards were fitted with wrongly size doors. Tenants who complained reported that they were treated dismissively. One remembered the site supervisor saying to him, “It ain’t Chelsea, mate.” Regenter’s out-of-hours emergency line linked to the wrong database, so callout engineers weren’t available. The striking thing was how long problems could drag out: one family’s flat was flooded in January 2014, and repairs weren’t even scheduled till September. Two years later, their flat still hadn’t been fully repaired and redecorated. Even at the most straightforward level, the work wasn’t done to a decent standard.

When approached for comment, Rydon said that since the complaints were made, three years ago, attempts have been made to remedy the problems. They said the comments were not reflective of most of the residents, and that there was a good level of satisfaction among the residents now.

For tenants with more complicated requirements, the situation was worse. The Cifuentes family, one of whom used a wheelchair, was left without ramps, hoists or any means of escape in a fire, and without a lock on the front door. Repairs were so slow and haphazard that, at one point, the family had to move out for over a month, and the disabled member could only have his needs met by going into a respite unit – whereupon they were threatened with losing their carer’s allowance, their disability allowance and their car.

Shocking article. Last paragraph as social housing tenants really got me.

I work in social housing and sadly it’s far from a rare occurrence. I’ve often thought about doing an AMA but am afraid of being found out by work 😂

The biggest issue is the social housing stock has aged significantly and not well. Most went up between Wars or 1960s and have been grossly under invested for too long. Demographics and family dynamics have changed vastly. Back to back houses for young couples or single people now expected to house families there is an acute shortage of family homes. Small kitchens in those homes were never made to allow for fridge freezers, washers, dryers or dishwashers. Bedrooms were sacrificed for indoor toilets and bathrooms.

None standard forms of construction mean that large tower blocks made of concrete are difficult to upgrade. They leak like a sieve between flats, landings and even in some cases soil stacks. They’re made using metal rebars that corrode causing more leaks and blowing concrete. Really they need a vast sum to improve or knock them down but where do you house the 100 households you have when waiting lists are already 1+ year for band A/A+.

It’s horrible. Most of us only have a sticking plaster for these issues. I’ve complaints from MPs and councillors coming left right and centre but none of them will come out to see what we see and experience or raise the issues in parliament.

Just appalling. The system is broken.

@mymymy0

They've been put into a Premier Inn with no way of cooking meals...

Yes, no fridge, nowhere to cook and no where to wash clothes properly 😑

@Wibblewobble99 Thanks for that post. Municipal Dreams The Rise and Fall of Council Housing talks about the old builds , how council housing started and where it ended up.
Apparently Boris was asked about the case this thread is about at the press conference today. And mumbled something about Build Back Better. What on earth will happen when those who have lost their homes due to the pandemic and these lockdowns need somewhere to live.

This is beyond words.
Unforgivable to allow people to live in those conditions.

This is one of the most upsetting things I’ve seen for a long time. Absolutely horrific. I can’t believe people are having to live like this in the U.K., locked in as well. It’s beyond terrible. They need to pull down that block of flats before another disaster happens. I hadn’t seen the news report. Croydon council are disgusting.

I don't work for a LA/HA but I have an active and supportive interest in housing and have done for many years.

My experience of LA/HA is that it is standard practice to treat any customer like they are a lesser being.
They will be messed about, there will be delays, no one will turn up when they say they will or turn up when not expected, the same jobs will be looked at over and over again but never actually be done, money will be taken and if it's a mistake it will take forever and a day to be returned, yet if you go even a pound in debt to them, you will get the full threat of legal action, even if the law says otherwise, staff don't seem to know or understand the law, especially regarding things like service charges and will quite happily break the law by not providing the correct documentation and there will be absolutely no consequence.
They will hide behind their charitable, not for profit status whilst sitting on a massive pile of money which really is supposed to be for building more social housing but somehow no one actually makes them do it.
Don't even get me started on the lack of response with ASB!
If you complain, you are lucky if you even get a response.
In this case, the residents have done what others only dream of. They've got someone to actually listen and be on their side. Their case has gathered enough momentum for people to take notice and hopefully they will be treated better moving forward. It's usually very lonely fighting for your rights in housing.
It's really rare for residents to make themselves heard like this and there are thousands still living with damp, leaky roofs, unsubstantiated and uncapped service charges for things which haven't been provided, dangerous cladding, sewerage problems and no hot water and heating.

I've worked in council housing before and it's a constant cycle of loosing money. We're underfunded and understaffed so we can't get work done in time, then tenants lodge claims with no win no fee solicitors for repair work and compensation, and the longer it takes the more it costs us. So we lose money and have less to spend on prevention and fixing issues quickly. Plus the tenants are then unhappy as the solicitors take most of the 'win'. So everyone is miserable.

It doesn’t sound like the council are handling it well now insidecroydon.com/2021/03/23/tenants-in-rushed-evacuation-from-south-norwood-block

Absolutely heartbreaking. Those poor people. Those flats are beyond words - not only disgusting but so dangerous.

Councils are going bankrupt because the Tories have aggressively pursued the American model of the 'free market'. Which just fails every time. Nothing free about it. It's all stitched up from the start. There will be much more of this while people vote Tory so think on that before you vote for them at all. Council budgets have been slashed to the bone over the last decade and it is getting worse. To the point that in a few years there will be NO central government grants. Of our taxes. It will be sink or swim using only council tax funding. That's their idea of 'freedom'.