Dispatches.....Getting Rich from the Housing Crisis.

[HelenaDove]

Broadcast date...........Monday 16th July.

"The pay of some social housing bosses has hit record levels during the current housing crisis. For Dispatches Anthony Barnett visits communities under threat and asks why, in one of the poorest areas, a housing association executive received a pay out of more than a million pounds"

Synopsis from Radio Times.

Hey sorry I'm rubbish at remembering to check inbox, found you anyway. Yes this does look interesting.

bumping as this is on tonight.

Channel 4 Dispatches
‏Verified account @C4Dispatches
5m5 minutes ago

This pensioner has been threatened with eviction by her housing association for not paying service charges - the fees have more than doubled in five years.
#Dispatches has uncovered the six figure salaries some housing association execs are receiving. Tonight 8pm @Channel4

On my reminder thingy.

Definitely going to watch. Housing associations are often greedy, unprincipled and dodgy in my experience.

About to start on Channel 4.

Channel 4 Dispatches
‏Verified account @C4Dispatches
12m12 minutes ago

Tonight: In the last five years the top 30 housing associations in the UK have made more than £13bn in operating profits - #Dispatches can reveal.

Getting Rich from the Housing Crisis: 8pm @Channel4

Watching now missed beginning few mins but I'll soon catch up.

That's absolutely shocking!

Am I right in thinking housing associations get subsidies/tax breaks?

I need to find out more about the regulations, they don't seem anywhere near stringent enough if they're able to:

Demolish social housing therefore not only NOT building more that is needed but actively REDUCING how much is available.

Sell them at market rate in flash auctions.

Sell them as HOLIDAY HOMES.

Contribute to the pricing out of keyworkers from high housing price areas.

Mp's are able to directly profit from buying them.

Charge tenants for services they're not receiving

Wtf is going on this is allowed?

The other MP saying they're not doing what they were set up to do is spot on!!

www.cfoi.org.uk/2017/07/bring-housing-associations-and-public-service-contractors-under-foi/

"Housing associations are not subject to the FOI Act and can refuse to answer requests about fire risks, safety problems, eviction policies, waiting lists and other matters.

Examples of requests for information which housing authorities have refused include:

the cause of a fire in a housing association flat, requested by a neighbouring tenant [1]
whether potentially toxic lead pipes were used for the water supply to a property [2]
the amount of flytipped waste and litter collected from a housing association’s estates [3]
the number of repossession orders served since the ‘bedroom tax’ came into force, and the number of those tenants who had no arrears before that date [4]
the policy which permitted an association to pack up an evicted tenant’s possessions and confidential documents instead of allowing him to collect them [5]
the number of properties adapted for disabled persons (the requester said she wanted: ‘just the number, nothing else’) [6]
the number of asylum seekers housed [7]
the number of properties empty for more than 6 weeks [8]
the electricity bill which led a tenant to be charged £1,200 to cover the costs of 6 communal light bulbs [9]
the make and model of street lighting on an estate which the requester found ‘overpowering’ at night. He wanted to use the information to contact the manufacturer to see if they could suggest a remedy [10]
details of a contract for emptying septic tanks shared by a housing association and privately owned properties. The requester, a private owner, wanted to know the basis on which he was being charged [11]
the numbers of complaints about repairs [12]
the circumstances in which tenants have been given permission to sublet and action taken against those subletting without permission [13]
the policy on dealing with requests for an individual’s own personal information under the Data Protection Act and the relevant application form [14]
the job description of the housing association’s Head of Governance [15]

Such information is routinely disclosed by local authorities in response to FOI requests. Most of the above requests were made through the whatdotheyknow.com website and referred to the FOI Act. This prompted many housing associations to point out that the Act did not apply to them. This would not have prevented them releasing information voluntarily and the fact that they didn’t do so is revealing. Typical comments included: “We do not wish to reply to your enquiry as we are not subject to the FOIA legislation” (Midland Heart); “As Wirral Partnership Homes LTD does not fall under the Freedom of Information Act we are not obligated to respond to your enquiry”; “Great Places Housing Group is not a public body under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act and is not under any obligation to respond to requests made under this legislation”; “Our client is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act and is therefore not obliged to answer a request made under that Act” (solicitor for Genesis Housing Group to a person who had been evicted).

In theory housing associations may be obliged to answer requests for environmental information under the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR). This might provide a right to information about fire safety decisions, such as those that led to Grenfell Tower disaster. But while the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has ruled that housing associations in Northern Ireland are subject to the EIR but has made no such rulings in relation to English and Welsh housing associations, where the legal context is slightly different. In a number of cases it has dealt with informally it has concluded that the particular English housing associations concerned were not subject to the EIR. This uncertainty means that bringing housing associations under the FOI Act is the only way of ensuring that their decisions on fire safety and other critical issues are subject to scrutiny"

Did the councils give council stock to housing associations? I am shocked at the high salaries, dodgy 1.1 million pay off and over charging of tenants for services. I don't think selling off social housing should be allowed without strict controls.

In 2010 the Government removed subsidies for social rent homes.

So why is there the continued insistence on here and elsewhere that social housing is subsidized.

I thought I read on another thread that they're subsidised - I stand corrected. But do they get tax breaks?

Foi is tip of the iceberg though surely? That's 'just' the info, what are the regulations that they have to adhere to?

See from a lay persons logic perspective I'd have thought there were rules on what they build, where, safety regs, how many they're allowed to sell & how many have to stay as rented properties available at reduced rates to low income tenants? Regs on how tenants are selected? Profit margins...

NONE of this is happening, they're seemingly no different than regular property developers except LESS regulated, LESS overseen. That cannot be what was intended surely?

I've been commenting on Twitter.

I have been examining HAs for some years now. Mostly they are 'groups' with the housing & service side being of charitable status. So they're afforded tax exemptions on areas such as business rates etc.

Equally, many have taken on homelessNess strategies and hoovered up women's refuges. While at face value that all looks altruistic, a local one here will not allow any resident to move out on a Friday, as housing benefit is paid from Monday to Sunday thus activating a void in income.

Their charitable status affords lesser liabilities and they also hoover up funding from many streams.

Not quite the little social enterprises. Our local one has closed local services down as they have grown and grown.

I'm absolutely appalled that they refuse to answer these questions! So what if they do not come under FOIA - if you've got nothing to hide, why wouldn't you? They are perfectly reasonable questions.

They clearly have much to hide.

HelenaDove Sat 30-Jun-18 02:40:39

THIS DOCUMENT. Myatts Field North refurb.

www.geog.leeds.ac.uk/fileadmin/documents/research/pfisocialhousing/MFN_PFI_Refurb_Experiences_Report.pdf
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HelenaDove Fri 14-Jul-17 22:10:33

Residents were told to remove their pets, but no compensation was offered to cover the
costs involved.
 No consideration was given to residents who worked night shifts.
 Workers used electricity paid for by of residents, without offering compensation.
 Doors were left open and residents were able to wander in unchallenged by workers
who did not know them.
 Quality alterations that residents had already made to their homes were ripped out to
make way for inferior alternatives.
 Supposedly completed electrical rewiring was found to be substandard and occasionally
dangerous.
 Supposedly completed pipe works and its housing were found to be substandard.
 In some homes, odd sized radiators and kitchen unit doors had been fitted.
 Flooding in one home had been caused by an unsupervised apprentice.
 Households were left overnight without running water or a toilet.
 At least one resident was left without electricity for a whole weekend.
 Some workers were found to be abusive, bullying and inconsiderate, especially towards
elderly or otherwise vulnerable residents.
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HelenaDove Tue 12-Jun-18 18:10:02

HelenaDove Fri 21-Jul-17 16:39:36

peoplevspfi.org.uk/2017/07/21/myatts-field-north-regeneration-a-pfi-horror-show/
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HelenaDove Fri 21-Jul-17 19:50:21

www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jul/21/the-real-cost-of-regeneration-social-housing-private-developers-pfi?CMP=share_btn_fb
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HelenaDove Fri 21-Jul-17 19:52:14

"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."

www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/this-social-cleansing-poor-anger-14843366

from fb.

"I moved into my sanctuary property in August 2016. My radiators will not switch off. Last year they paid compensation of over £300. Still, my radiators are coming on. They have replaced valves after valves, Said it is connected up wrong, said it is connected to my shower wrong, They have cleaned the system out. I have two switches, one for gas and one for the hot water. They have told me to have hot water on constant, then told me to have it on the timer, Then told me to only switch on when hot water is needed. The last two times they have been out one chap says we cannot keep coming out. There is nothing wrong with your system, it is because I am using hot water on constant. Even if I try it on the timer or off the heating still comes on. But surely if I have my heating switch off but my hot water one on, then it should only be my hot water that comes on, Or am I missing something!
My Daughter and 2-year-old Grandson live with me, the house has been so hot I have to have fans on constant, My Grandsons room is were the tank is so it is extremely hot I had a fan on, it tripped the switch, Thank goodness I was awake due to my ill health, His fan had tripped the switch, it was overheating, smoking and the inside had melted, I dread to think what would have been the outcome if I was asleep. I am disabled. My energy suppliers have been fantastic and have said my energy bills are not normal, My gas bill is over £800 in arrears, My electric for using fans is over £200 in arrears. I emailed them about covering the cost and this is the email I got back from them after I sent them copies of my bills they requested.. Dear Mrs

Thank you for supplying your gas bills.

I have discussed the complaint with our Gas Trade Supervisor who advised despite numerous visits to reports of the boiler issues you have experienced no fault has been found. Upon reviewing you bills the gas usage is normal so I would recommend you discuss the excessive amounts with your gas supplier.

I regret to inform you that we are unable to cover the cost of your gas bills and can confirm there has been no failure in service in regards to attending your repairs.

If you wish to proceed further with your complaint, please specify any issues you remain dissatisfied with by calling the repairs team or by replying to this email. If we do not hear from you within 20 working days of the date of this email, we will consider this matter resolved and close your complaint."

Helena have you been to the housing ombudsman about your situation?

I have downloaded this episode and will be watching a bit later on today..... I'm intrigued as I work for a Housing Association

AnotherMum its not me its taken from a fb group Sorry i should have made that clear.

That's ok, I did wonder after I posted!!
I found it quite disgusting but not overly surprised if I'm honest. I'm almost ashamed to work for a HA these days, not the same as it was years ago

AnotherMum its not your fault

There are some decent caring people working for HAs and it can be very frustrating for them too.

www.insidehousing.co.uk/comment/dispatches-episode-was-not-a-balanced-documentary-57241