Southwark Council’s housing boss has admitted that the borough will struggle to look after its most vulnerable residents without more financial backing. His foreboding words came days after the News revealed that a woman was found deceased in her Borough flat, probably having lain undiscovered for months.
Who is to blame for this crisis? On the one hand, we have the Liberal Democrats saying there are inefficiencies in the maintenance system. On the other, the Labour council points to a chronic lack of funding. While the Liberal Democrats are probably right that the system needs to be streamlined, you can’t help but feel that Labour have a point.
Of course, Lib Dem Cllr Irina von Wiese could be right in saying that outsourced private maintenance companies need to be better scrutinised. Yes, there is a massive communication problem where council tenants feel they are ‘fobbed off’ by the council.
But money talks. And there’s not enough of it. With ever-shrinking budgets, the council struggles to fund the estate refurbishments needed. West Dulwich’s Kingswood Estate is undergoing a multi-million-pound refurbishment to prevent mould and damp, but these expensive projects are increasingly rare.
There is also the issue of social isolation, which is a particularly serious problem for the vulnerable residents to whom Cllr Merrill referred. Once upon a time, each estate would have a dedicated caretaker who knew residents, checked up on them, often lived on the estate and had emotional ties to the people they were employed to look after.
Now we have a system where a single housing officer can be responsible for thousands of residents. With resources spread so thin, the council is vulnerable to tragic situations where elderly and disabled residents can be forgotten.
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The government has asked us to accept that real-term cuts to council budgets are needed due to Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine. But the real problem is that there is no political will among the ruling party properly to address the housing crisis.
When Britain was on its knees after World War Two, Clement Attlee embarked on the biggest housebuilding programme the country had ever seen. It wasn’t perfect. But it was, at the very least, a radical attempt to ensure people had a comfortable and safe place to live.
Despite its economic difficulties, the government didn’t shirk its responsibilities to the vulnerable residents. The Prime Minister mustn’t shirk his responsibilities either.
Exclusive: Most vulnerable residents ‘ will be at risk’, admits council’s housing chief