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COMMENT: Surprise, Surprise! Satisfaction levels lowest in London
November 14, 2011 1:34 PM
Lambeth Living, Lambeth Labour's unpopular and unwanted housing ALMO, has just admitted that it has failed to live up to all the hype that surrounded its conception and uneasy birth. The 2011 customer satisfaction survey reveals that satisfaction levels with housing services are shockingly low and have actually declined over the past two years. Worst of all, Labour-run Lambeth records the lowest levels of satisfaction out of all the 32 London Boroughs.
Hardly news, we know, but here's the headline of shame - LAMBETH BOTTOM AGAIN.
The same official report piles on the agony, though. After three years of Labour promises that Lambeth Living would rescue tenants from the housing hell that they endured under direct Lambeth Labour housing neglect, the number of homes failing to meet the decent homes standard has actually rocketed from around 30% to 54%.
These disgraceful statistics, however, hide the level of hopelessness that many tenants feel as they cope day in and day out with the reality of crumbling draughty window frames, damp and mould, leaking roofs and dodgy or outdated heating systems.
We have always mistrusted Lambeth's figures on the true level of homes failing to meet the Decent Homes Standard, so this grudging admission that over half the homes under the Council's care are now classed as substandard comes as no great shock to us.
Sadly, we believe the true figure to be far higher. And we suspect that if neglected street properties were part of the equation the situation would be far worse.
The truly scandalous aspect in all this is that Labour politicians are so feeble at doing anything about it. This report also lays bare that only 45% of calls to the Customer Centre are answered on time, while targets for responding to complaints and members' enquiries are repeatedly not met.
So bad is the situation on repairs that Lambeth's normally compliant tenants are increasingly taking legal action simply to resolve matters that would be dealt with promptly and efficiently by decently-run councils. In fact the legal bill has escalated to more than £1 million a year.
Why is Labour apparently so content to line lawyers' pockets when this money could be spent on much-needed repairs?
In fact we hear that things have got so bad now that Labour's cabinet member has been forced to set-up a housing surgery to help her backbenchers to resolve outstanding cases.
If there's any light in this unrelenting gloom, it's in the £100 million of decent homes money that the Coalition Government has allocated for Lambeth homes and the reforms to the Housing Revenue Account that will allow councils like Lambeth to borrow £150 million.
Labour will scoff - and has already - that this is not enough. Yet the facts speak for themselves. It is £250 million quid more than the Labour Government ever delivered for decent homes in Lambeth.