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Welcome
Inspections for cash? It might just work
Finally we have a housing expert in the top job. No one knows more than Boris about the challenges of bringing ageing public sector homes up to modern day standards. I stand in awe of his pioneering work in personally defining and costing up Decent Homes Two. No one gave more.
In the past people worried tenants wanted gold taps. But the tenant of Number 10 went one better and opted for gold wallpaper. To be fair I’m not sure those new taps that spout out boiling hot, chilled and sparkling water at the touch of a button are available in gold. So the Aurelian wallpaper isn’t such a bad option all things considered.
Make sure you put that in your void standard. I’m pretty sure the new inspectors will be looking out for it on their spot checks.
Whilst we’re having fun with this, Boris does make serious points about housing. In his foreword to the Charter he speaks of the despair of a family suffering from damp in a council home he met as a cub reporter in the 80s. Step forward to today and ITV News is still covering this problem while our Ombudsman seeks out the facts.
The truth is that there is a big gap between the costs of the work we ought to do to fix homes and the money we have in the kitty. So we do need Boris to help.
One of his predecessors faced a similar crisis and went a long way to solving it. What did Tony Blair do?
For a kick off he didn’t trust some of the landlords at the time one bit. That’s why he went for the carrot and the stick approach. If you wanted the money he’d send in inspectors to test you. When you passed muster to prove you could use the money well then, and only then, a council would get the cash.
Should we go down this road again? Do we set up a special fund for safety, catch up works, regeneration and decarbonisation? OK we can all agree on that. But should we use inspection as the qualifying mechanism?
The case against is easy to make. Won’t it lead to delays and a post code lottery? Unfortunately the case for is also pretty easy to advance too. Take a look at all the lousy blocks some have bought with cheap money in recent years. As they say a fool and his money are soon parted.
For me there is little point in setting up an inspectorate to name and shame (or indeed praise). Just like Marx’s famous quote, there is no value in the inspectors interpreting the world, they must change it.
During lockdown tenants have strained every sinew to pay their rent. Some of our members have even seen arrears fall, despite the eviction ban. Staff have stepped up to the mark too. Read the story about the round the clock diligence of Samuel Adjei, a surveyor at Mount Green, in this issue. I can’t wait to get out and meet people like him again.
Let’s use the new inspectors to give our people the money they need to get the job done. And not waste a penny.
