UK housing associations need stricter regulation: MPs
UK housing associations need drastic new regulation and a stronger role for the housing ombudsman, according to some of the country’s MPs. The calls came in the wake of an investigation into five housing associations in London, Catalyst, Notting Hill Housing, the One Housing Group, Sanctuary and Wandle, which collectively control 175,000 homes. The enquiry found evidence of damp, mould and rats as well structural failings, broken lifts and inadequate customer service in new-build developments that had been awarded over £60m ($75m) of public money.
The regulation of housing associations needs sweeping changes, MPs have told the Guardian, after an investigation into troubled new-build developments that have benefited from more than £60m of public money.

The investigation into properties across London found issues with five housing associations: Catalyst, Sanctuary, Notting Hill Housing, Wandle and the One Housing Group, who together control 175,000 homes. Problems experienced by tenants and homeowners have included structural defects, damp, mould, broken lifts, infestation by rats, and poor customer service.

Rushanara Ali, the MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, called for a new system of transparency and official ratings. “Why can’t we have league tables for housing associations so we know who are the worst offenders?” said Ali, who has led recent attempts in parliament to force the government to take action on oversights by housing associations. “That would force them to act.

“We cannot tolerate the poor practice we’re seeing now. We wouldn’t tolerate it from private landlords, so there’s absolutely no reason we should be tolerating it from publicly funded housing associations. What’s scandalous is that public money is being given to them, even when customer service is failing.”

The Green party co-leader, Caroline Lucas, said the revelations highlighted the downsides of recent government policy. “The appalling state of some housing association homes is the result of years of deregulation and profit-seeking being prioritised over the building of decent homes,” she said. “No one should have to live in these kind of conditions. Mould, flooding and rats might be relatively common in Londoners’ homes, but that doesn’t make their presence in any way acceptable.”

The shadow housing minister, John Healey – who served as housing minister under Gordon Brown – said the Guardian’s findings exposed huge issues about how social housing providers were changing. “This investigation is a cautionary tale about some housing associations’ work,” he said. “When some of them are adopting a more commercial model, they need to take care not to adopt commercial building standards, which too often these days the public see as unsatisfactory.” The National Housing Federation, the umbrella organisation that speaks for housing associations, said residents in housing associations were “overwhelmingly satisfied” and that the examples uncovered by the Guardian were “in no way representative of the general quality of these housing associations’ homes nor the sector as a whole”.

But politicians and housing professionals have become increasingly concerned about some housing associations’ performance and the government’s drive to cut back funding and regulation, much of which was put in place under the last Labour government.

The Audit Commission played a key role in monitoring housing associations’ performance, but was dissolved in 2015. In 2010 the then housing minister, Grant Shapps, announced the abolition of the Tenants Services Authority, which was responsible for inspecting housing associations and addressing residents’ concerns.

Now, although the government insists a “strong regulatory framework” remains in place, further moves are afoot. The Conservative housing minister, Gavin Barwell, recently told the House Of Commons that the government was “committed to deregulating the sector”, and highlighted new moves that free housing associations from the need to seek official approval for organisational changes and selling off their stock.

Barwell’s department said: “Housing associations are regulated and need to maintain their houses to a decent standard … Where necessary, we’d expect local authorities to use their enforcement powers for dealing with any breaches [of regulations].”

The Labour MP Jon Cruddas, whose consituency of Dagenham and Rainham will have tens of thousands of newbuild homes constructed over the next 15 years, said:.“What’s happening to some housing associations mirrors what happened to the building societies. They chased the market and demutualised and became much more aggressive, at the expense of their civic inheritance. The worry with housing associations is similar: they’re getting bigger and bigger, and they’re becoming more marketised.”

Calls are growing for a different system of regulation, which would boost the role of the housing ombudsman. “Sixty-one people work for the housing ombudsman,” said Ali. “That’s not many. I would like the government to change the requirement for people to go to their MP before they make a complaint. That just delays things. And the ombudsman does not publish how many complaints have been submitted for housing associations. That needs to change.”