DECENT HOMES, INDECENT DELAYS

Tower Hamlets Homes Decent Homes programme in Lister and Pauline Houses has been riddled with delays, multiple changes of sub-contractors and low quality work leaving families living in building sites. Ratepayers have labelled the work a ‘farce’ saying none of the properties had been completed on time and those that had been given a starting date for works had not heard anything two months down the line.

Families are living in appalling conditions sometimes with small children, with very limited movements within their own homes due to the dust and clutter of works taking place. We spoke to some residents who expressed displeasure at how the Decent Homes work had been handled. Atiqur Rahman of 32 Lister House said, “we were informed that work would start on our property in early November, yet nothing has started yet and it doesn’t look like it will happen for some time.” Kachamala Begum of 19 Lister House said, “They start work then leave for a week, this is very disruptive, however they have blamed it on the bad weather. This is causing us so much suffering we have to live in really bad conditions waiting for them to come and fix things” Jasmin Sumi of 18 Lister House said “they gave us a starting date but then they changed it, now we’re not sure when they will start work.”

Komla Bibi of 3 Lister House said, “work started on the 26th of November however it is still continuing.” She felt the disruption was possibly due to workers taking holidays over the Christmas break and felt the extended disruption could have been avoided if works had started after Christmas.

We spoke to Nazmin Amin of 35 Pauline House who said work had been ongoing for two months and she found it particularly disruptive due to having an 18 month old baby. She also said there was no water, even drinking water whilst the works were taking place. Many other residents also complained of no water in their flats. Tower Hamlets Homes have issued this statement:

“The contract for Decent Homes work at Lister and Pauline Houses was originally scheduled to finish on 18 February 2011 and is now expected to be completed by 18 March 2011.Works to some properties have taken longer than originally anticipated due to some initial problems between the contractor (Lakehouse) and their subcontractors. “To minimise the impact on our residents, Tower Hamlets Homes has worked closely with Lakehouse to resolve the issues and get the contract back on track. The contractor has provided a recovery plan to provide confidence to us that the programme will be met. The two spells of bad weather during December also impacted on the project as workers and materials were delayed. We made sure that the contractor kept the residents informed of any changes to the programme and we are sorry for any inconvenience caused to residents.” This is little comfort for ratepayers who have had to live in building sites for so long. ALMO’s in Newham or RSL’s have managed to complete the decent homes work within four weeks with minimal disruption and it is felt that THH residents should receive the same high standards. “Changing sub-contractors twice in a month is the mark of an inefficienct and poor organisation, particularly midway through the Decent Homes programme where one would expect they know which sub-contractor to hire or not,” said a
resident.

Still after years of living in sub standard accommodation one resident was very pleased with the new kitchen and bathroom saying “I am very happy with the results”. In related news Mayor Lutfur discussed in Wednesdays Cabinet meeting whether or not to absorb the THH Arms Length Management Organisation (ALMO) back in house; he has asked for an independent review regarding this. The ALMO was created as a vehicle to tap into the Decent Homes money from the Government, however the current Coalition has announced future bids for the Decent Homes could be directly made by councils and that an ALMO was not necessary.

Taking THH Housing stock back under council control would mean a saving of £millions over a period of time due to services being delivered under one umbrella causing no duplication as well as the culling of an expensive management structure. Under the Council, THH would be more accountable where all the councillors and the Mayor are responsible. This call follows similar moves by other councils to take their ALMOs back in house. There is support for this move in the community as many felt there was no consultation when it initially came into being. THH has done good work after taking it off the council, however in times of austerity it may not be sensible to have two tiers of staff when one will do. THH has announced recently 80 job cuts due to austerity measures. The results of the Decent Homes inspection due to be announced in late December last year has been delayed until February, it is expected THH will achieve the two stars they had hoped for.