A Different Sort of Housing Crisis
Much of the work of local government is subject to regulation and inspection. Their work is often rather boring to the outsider. Has the council met a particular standard in this or that area? Are they, in the judgement of their peers well run and financially viable.
Tedious perhaps, but part of the bureaucratic network that ensures, or tries to ensure that councils meet their statutory requirements in terms of safety, quality and financial liability.
Newham’s Housing Department has recently undergone an inspection.
There are four grades that the inspector can give ranging from ‘meets the requirements’ to ‘fails to meet the requirements’. This latter classification is for councils that require “regulatory or enforcement action”.
To our knowledge, no council has ever been graded G4 for Housing. Until 2024.
It seems that the situation in Newham’s Housing Department is so poor, that Newham has been labeled ‘inadequate’. Again, Newham is making history, for all the wrong reasons. The first council to be so assessed.
We have yet to see the report. We understand that it has been withheld, at Newham’s request. We are told that Newham has submitted an appeal, wishing to be classified as G3, i.e., ‘serious concerns’, but ‘working to improve them’.
In the meantime, Darren Levy, the Director of Housing has not been at his desk, prompting speculation that he has chosen to go (or has been encouraged to go). Moreover, his number 2 is on long-term sick leave. On top of this we discover that the Chief Executive is also on sick leave. This is the Chief Exec that Newham’s website announced would be bringing in “robust financial management” (£175m cuts looming) and “mobilising the Council to deliver best in class council services for Newham residents”. That doesn’t seem to have worked out so well.
With the senior housing staff absent, and no chief exec, we are at a loss as to who it is that will be working with the regulators to improve the position.
Happily, we still have Mayor Fiaz and Cllr Shaban Mohammed in post, although cynics might suggest that as they are the ones who created the problem, they are not best suited to fix it.
Maybe one of our councillors might ask, “why is it that the senior officer has to go, but the politician responsible does not?”.
It looks like one rule for the staff and no rules for the politicians, which when we come to think about it, seems to be the standard set at Westminster.