1 in 7 London social homes fail to meet decent standards

The Mayor of London has pledged to work with social housing providers to improve standards for tenants, after new City Hall analysis revealed 115,000 (15%) of London’s social homes fail to meet the government’s Decent Homes Standard.

While the majority of social tenants are satisfied with their accommodation, three in 10 said they have considered making a complaint in the last year, and of those who complained, 59% said they were unhappy with the response from their landlord or management organisation.

The Deputy Mayor for Housing, Tom Copley, brought together social housing providers from across London last week to share best practise and discuss how they can improve conditions for social tenants.

The Decent Homes Standard was introduced in 2000, with the intention of all social housing meeting these minimum targets by 2010.

Originally progress was swift in London, with the number of non-decent social rented homes falling from 280,000 in 2006 to 120,000 in 2014, but progress has stalled since then. Government funding for bringing social homes up to decent homes standard came to an end in 2016.

The 2019 English Housing Survey found 115,000 London homes remain below decent homes standards.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: ‘London’s housing crisis remains one of the greatest barriers to addressing the inequality we face in our city and I’m proud to have overseen record numbers of social and other genuinely affordable homes being started in London.

‘However, while brand new high quality social rent homes are desperately needed, I’m determined we don’t forget those who are struggling in homes that do not meet basic standards. We need a step-change in approach as too many homes are still not in a decent condition.

‘It is vital that providers of social housing assure tenants that their complaints are being listened to and acted on in a swift and timely manner to provide the comfort and security in their homes that all Londoners deserve.’

Pat Turnbull, Regional Representative for the London Tenants’ Federation, commented: ‘LTF members will be pleased that the Mayor of London is taking this move to improve conditions of social rented homes in London.

‘We agree that lengthy and frequently ineffective complaints systems are indeed a key element to address. Individual complaints are often symptoms of wider poor-quality management and maintenance practices. This includes failures to engage tenants collectively in the development of social landlord policy and practice.

‘We would welcome opportunities to engage with the Mayor and Deputy Mayor in their efforts on this issue.’

Photo by Ben Allan