Paul Kershaw, Enfield and Lea Valley Socialist Party
The family of 15-week-old baby Akram Mohammed, who died after living in a damp, mould-ridden housing association flat, say they believe those conditions contributed to his death. Complaints about the flat, owned by Notting Hill Genesis (NHG) housing association, had been made to the housing ombudsman and to Camden Council. ITV news quotes Akram’s father saying, “We complained, and complained, but nothing happened.” His mother said, “We were crying out for help, but nobody hears.”
They are not alone. In the same week as news of baby Akram’s death made headlines, the Housing Ombudsman published a new report which investigated over 3,000 pieces of evidence and found a 474% increase in complaints concerning substandard living conditions between 2019-20 to 2024-25. Around two-thirds of the cases featured poor practice by social landlords, like councils and housing associations.
NHG was created from a financially driven merger of two housing associations in the teeth of opposition from tenants and resident groups. Its CEO was recruited from estate agents Foxtons.
Responding to pressure from the Regulator of Social Housing, NHG recently appointed a new non-executive director, Leanne Hearne, who will apparently have responsibility for regulator compliance and strategy. If her role as CEO of Livv Housing is a guide, tenants and workers should take the appointment as a warning.
She told staff that Margaret Thatcher was her role model and used anti-union tactics in fighting a strike which began in October of last year. It concluded at the end of May with a victory for the Unite and Unison members who took action (See page 7). She announced that she would step down as the settlement was reached.
A recent meeting of NHG tenants and residents agreed to protest outside NHG’s head office to draw attention to the organisation’s multiple failings and to express solidarity with Livv strikers. They are organised in the Social Housing Action Campaign (SHAC), a campaigning network of housing association tenants and residents.
The ombudsman report warned of “simmering anger” amongst tenants and residents that risked “social disquiet” and called for the creation of a national body to give residents a voice. This would be a significant step but not enough in itself, and has rightly been met with scepticism by tenants.
SHAC has campaigned for a national tenants’ union based on and with links to the trade unions. The big housing associations should be held to account through democratic representation of their tenants. Rather than being a vehicle of global financial institutions to generate profit, social landlords should be publicly funded to provide decent homes.
Council housing crisis
In London, homelessness services are nowhere near meeting rocketing need. Councils supposedly ‘overspending’ by £330 million on these services represent the “single biggest risk” to council finances, according to London Councils umbrella group.
Councils in London must also reduce their spending on council housing by £264 million to keep their budgets balanced, according to London Councils.
The union Unite points out that UK local authorities were £122 billion in debt as of 2024, with government lenders charging high rates of interest. Six councils have issued Section 114 notices, due to their deficits since 2021, with 43% of England’s 317 local authorities at risk, according to data from the National Audit Office. Unite is calling for an overhaul of how local authorities are funded. Unite is launching a campaign for ‘fair funding’ of local authorities. Tenants and housing campaigners should fight with Unite to ensure decent services and for safe, high-quality council housing.
The Socialist Party demands:
- A mass council house building programme to provide good-quality, environmentally friendly and secure homes for all who need them
- Genuinely independent, democratic Tenants and Residents Associations. Genuine accountability and control, including over repairs. Nationalise construction companies under democratic workers’ control and management to plan the necessary repairs and housing improvements
- End the commercialisation of housing associations and registration of for-profit providers, run in the interests of big business and hedge funds. Take the housing associations into democratic public ownership. This could include the option to return to council ownership with independent tenant democratic control, or co-ops
- Council housing officers to enforce decent living standards and rent controls for all. For landlord registers to fight back against slum housing
- Councils should refuse to implement the cuts now and link up with other councils, building a mass working-class campaign to fight for the financial resources to reverse cuts, fund remedial works and for the public services. Use the wealth of the super-rich and big businesses for what we need not what makes a profit for a few
