The dire state of Britain’s social housing – and how to stop the rot

fGood morning.

Housing problems can lead to a host of diseases and mental health problems. Living in poorly maintained, often dangerous conditions, with issues such as mould, damp and collapsed ceilings, can affect relationships, job prospects and, for children, it often negatively affects their educational outcomes. It can make life unbearable and, for those living in social housing, these feelings of powerlessness can be amplified, with local councils and housing associations often subject to accusations of bad service, dismissive attitudes and long delays, despite the fact that they are obliged to ensure that living standards are up to scratch.

But the plight of renters, both private and social, has been pushed up the political agenda in the UK in recent years and this newfound pressure has led to L&Q – one of Britain’s biggest social landlords – being ordered to pay more than £140,000 in compensation because of its negligence towards its tenants. L&Q rents out more than 105,000 homes across the south and north-west of England, and was found to have repeatedly failed “to respond fairly to vulnerable residents, especially where the resident had a disability or mental health problems”.

The special investigation by the housing ombudsman was damning – and for today’s newsletter I spoke to the Guardian’s social affairs correspondent, Robert Booth, about whether it will make a difference. That’s right after the headlines.

Five big stories

In depth: ‘Social housing always comes second – until that changes, the problem won’t be solved’

While it is the biggest payout of its kind awarded by the housing ombudsman to date, monetarily the £140,000 compensation figure is a relatively small amount – especially when compared to L&Q’s surplus in 2022 which sat at £154m. “But what is more significant is the extent of the ombudsman’s criticism of the second biggest social housing landlord in the UK,” Rob says. In its special investigation, the housing ombudsman found that L&Q was “dismissive” of tenants and concluded that the company had demonstrated “severe maladministration” in areas such as tackling disrepair and dealing with antisocial behaviour. The ombudsman noted L&Q’s failure to consistently identify “damp and mould” as a key problem, and came to the damning conclusion that it had managed “a period of significant failure” as a landlord.

The intervention by the housing secretary, Michael Gove – who has taken a particularly strong interest in this issue – after the ombudsman’s findings were made public was equally damning. The minister attacked the management of L&Q and called its chief executive to a meeting with the government. “Gove has taken the view that publicly naming and shaming is a good way of doing two things: improving the standards of social landlords and signalling to voters that he cares, the government cares and they’re doing something about it,” Rob adds. “So this is more significant as a political turn than it is in terms of cash compensation”.

Will it make any difference?

Millions of people live in social housing, some of them in substandard, unsafe accommodation. So, how much is a stern word from Michael Gove going to do to make life easier for those affected?

“There is a sort of political theatre element to it – although that’s not to say it’s not the right thing to do,” says Rob. “Ever since Grenfell we’ve known nationally, and people living in social housing would have known this before Grenfell, that social housing tenants often get treated very dismissively by landlords when things go wrong. That has developed into a huge cultural problem over many, many years, so it is right and important to call it out and Gove does need to be credited for doing that.”

But that does not address the fundamental issues, which are more to do with the way social housing is financed in the UK. Social landlords tend to use “cross-subsidy” models, meaning that they supplement their income by also developing and renting out more expensive housing, with some also branching out into selling homes for shared ownership. Many have taken their eye off the ball as they have done so, meaning they do not do what they were designed to do in the first place: provide good quality low cost social housing. “The funding from the government to build new social homes is insufficient and so they have to rely on other income streams,” Rob says.

The impact on tenants

More attention is being paid than ever before to the plight of social housing tenants after the death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak and the high profile campaigning of people like Kwajo Tweneboa (pictured above). Tenants are more likely than ever to broadcast their appalling living conditions on social media and TV, so it can certainly feel like the conditions are getting worse.

In reality, things are marginally better than they were a decade ago. The number of people living in non-decent social housing has slightly declined, although around 10% of social renters are still living in non-decent housing, underpinned by public money.

The problems do not end with the most horrifying cases either – it can be the constant niggles that make life incredibly difficult. “There are families dealing with things like laundry damp because people have to hang stuff up all over the place since the heating is not working properly or the ventilation isn’t right,” says Rob. “It can be incredibly stressful. It disrupts family life and makes having a stable, productive existence much harder.” Conditions like this can create a sense of powerlessness, as well as having a significant impact on a person’s quality of life.

What else is being done?

The Social Housing Act, which gained royal assent last week, should put a greater onus on landlords to respond in a timely manner. There will also be more proactive inspections by regulators of social housing and the bill will seek to ensure that greater qualifications will be demanded of anyone entering the field. “It has become a deeply de-professionalised area,” says Rob. “The purpose of the act is to make it more professional again and ensure people have greater qualifications so that they are actually treating their jobs more seriously”.

An estimated 4.2 million people are waiting to be placed in social housing in England alone, but less than 7,000 social houses were built last year. The problem lies somewhere in this discrepancy.

Campaign groups think that we need to be building about 90,000 homes a year to fill in the gap, which would require a subsidy of £15bn a year. While around £12bn a year is going into the affordable homes programme, most of that is not going on low cost social housing, Rob says. “The politics of this always seems to be around home ownership. Political parties, both Labour and Conservative, are focused on boosting it, which is understandable, but that means that fixing the social housing shortage and its quality always comes second. Until that changes, the problem won’t be solved.”

What else we’ve been reading

• Among a host of Sinéad O’Connor tributes on the Guardian website, Simon Hattenstone’s stands out as he recalls his interviews with her over the years: “Sinéad had a brilliant way with words. Even at her bleakest she’d make you laugh.” Toby Moses, head of newsletters

• Do you love indulging in the eccentricities of movie stars? Stuart Heritage has ranked the top 10 most bizarre film premieres, featuring another pre-Oscars Will Smith slap. Nimo

• A decade ago it looked like bookshops were in irretrievable decline, so it’s cheering to read Claire Armitstead’s tour of Birmingham’s independent booksellers – a welcome revival for an industry now thriving. Sign up here for our Bookmarks newsletter, for all the latest book news and reviews. Toby

• “The politics of divide and rule has long been a key weapon in the Tory armoury,” writes Owen Jones in response to Rishi Sunak’s announcement of his latest tactic to try to garner support. Nimo

• It’s quite something to make a TV show starring Olivia Colman, Samuel L Jackson and Kingsley Ben-Adir dull, but Marvel’s Secret Invasion has managed the impossible. Stuart Heritage takes a look at why the MCU’s TV output has been so turgid. For more of our TV coverage, sign up to What’s On. Toby