Ombudsman calls for new royal commission to create long-term plan for social housing

Recommendations

 

The ombudsman recommended that government and policymakers establish a new royal commission on housing, seeking to re-establish housing policy as a health intervention and proposing a long-term strategy for social housing.

 

The call comes soon after the National Housing Federation set out its asks for a long-term plan for housing earlier this month.

 

The ombudsman said that housing policy and a long-term strategy should accelerate the Better Social Housing Review’s plan for a thorough audit of all social housing in England and residents living in it.

 

It said this is to inform a long-term strategy for the regeneration of social housing and the funding required so the homes are “appropriately designed and adapted in the right areas for the people who need them now and in the future”.

 

The report said that the strategy should review current, and recommend new, allocation guidance to local authorities. This is to include record-keeping requirements and data-sharing agreements with providers and other agencies on tenants’ vulnerabilities and reasonable adjustments.

 

It should also include a new “standards framework for professionalisation guidance” following the Equality Act 2010 and review the overall relevance of ‘general needs’ given the changing demographics within social housing, the report said.

 

The report’s findings comprised of more than 1,663 public responses from a call for evidence and hundreds of ombudsman cases, including almost 200 where staff conduct formed part of the investigation.

 

The report uses these case studies and direct quotes from residents and landlords to build a picture of how the sector is performing.

 

Among the recommendations for the sector, the ombudsman has said landlords should implement a vulnerability strategy including how it is defined, who assesses, and what the review process is. This must be in line with the Equality Act, the Human Rights Act and the Care Act, it said.

 

The report recommended that landlords should test the policy in practice against the ‘three Rs’ – “recognise, respond and appropriately record vulnerabilities” – and implement a “specific reasonable adjustments policy”.

 

Social housing providers should also carry out a “resident of the future” forecast for the next 10 years, drawing on the available information around demographics, both locally and nationally.

 

The ombudsman recommended that landlords introduce minimum staff training requirements such as Dementia Friends, and training on customer care, mental health, learning disabilities, and sight and hearing loss.

 

Landlords should also undertake a review at board level as to whether the organisation is currently offering a ‘human-centric’ service provision and identify any barriers to why that is not currently the case.

 

Providers should also ensure awareness and accessibility to the complaints procedure, it said.

Richard Blakeway, the housing ombudsman, said: “The effect of a combined cost of living and housing crisis has put parts of the sector at breaking point, compounded by a narrow vision of what social housing is for; one which is far removed from its conception 150 years ago.

 

“This presents choices for government and society, as well as landlords and residents, about what sort of social housing the country wants.

 

“This sector has a proud history of tackling social injustice and this housing crisis speaks to new social injustices in health, equality and race and it can rise to this challenge for the benefit of the country. Our calls for a royal commission, which is independent of government and not impeded by politics, could be transformative.”

 

Servicing vulnerable residents

 

In its call for evidence, the ombudsman asked residents about how well informed they feel their landlord keeps them on repairs, rents and service charges, complaints, and policies.

 

Most residents rated their landlord between three and five (on a scale of one to five) for keeping them informed about changes to rent and service charges. However, for everything else, more than half of residents rated their landlord at one, with one resident describing feeling like a “powerless cash cow”.

 

Over two-thirds (68 per cent) said their landlord had not made any reasonable adjustments, despite being asked to.

 

Landlords responding to the call for evidence reported that a “lack of resources and a breakdown of trust” were the two main barriers to better communication. However, landlords also said that internal culture and the attitude of their organisations hindered communication with residents.

 

The ombudsman said that from its casework, the issues seen around communications and relationships can be broken down into two main areas of people and processes.

 

All the case studies in the report contain learning for landlords and among them are “failures to make adjustments on adaptations, communications and appointments”.

 

Cases include insensitive comments to a mother about her terminally ill daughter and a domestic abuse survivor being advised by the landlord to return to her property.

 

There was also a case of a resident’s mental health blamed for the landlord missing repair appointments despite it being aware that the resident would be at a health clinic.

 

The report also includes several areas of good practice by landlords. For example, some social landlords have restructured their housing departments to better meet the needs of their residents.

 

It detailed how one provider has created new teams consisting of complaint staff, contractors and housing officers with each working together to understand the situation, the impact of the situation on the residents and the support they need.

 

The ombudsman has itself taken learning from the report, revising its reasonable adjustments policy, introducing a new safeguarding policy and new guidance for Equality and Human Rights to support formal investigations.

 

Mr Blakeway said: “Central to our report is what it means to be vulnerable in social housing today, how landlords can respond effectively, and how to do so without stigma or marginalisation.

 

“Too often in our casework, residents’ vulnerabilities are missed, or the response is inappropriate. Too often the concept of vulnerability is ill-defined by the landlord. Disrepair in homes or poorly handled anti-social behaviour in neighbourhoods is creating – or exacerbating – vulnerabilities.

 

“I’d urge all social landlords to read this report and reflect how their services and policies can be adapted to bring about positive changes for all residents. We acknowledge that in some places the sector needs more help with this too, and have made recommendations to that effect for policymakers.”