Hackney an ‘outlier’ on housing failures, says watchdog

Social housing ombudsman Richard Blakeway. Photograph: Josef Steen / free for use by LDRS partners
A watchdog has said Hackney Council is an “outlier” compared to other local authorities in terms of the scale of its housing failures.
Social housing ombudsman Richard Blakeway last week addressed councillors at a special scrutiny meeting at the Town Hall, following his investigation into the council’s performance around repairs and maintenance.
In May, the ombudsman reported that the council’s “positivity” had led to multiple missed opportunities to improve services.
Blakeway told the chamber that while the Mayor of Hackney and officers had engaged “constructively, openly and transparently throughout the investigation”, Hackney was nevertheless an “outlier in some areas” compared to other London boroughs.
This was particularly due to the “much higher” rate of severe maladministration – the most serious failings by a landlord or housing provider.
Blakeway said the local authority needed a “cultural change” so that it could grasp the root causes of problems, rather than “deflect” from them.
Basic elements like repairs and record-keeping also needed to be strengthened, he added.
However, the watchdog said there was “lots of positive learning to take because there is a shared challenge here for social landlords”.
While acknowledging the impact of Covid-19 on housing service delivery, the fallout from the pandemic had “compounded pre-existing weaknesses rather than being their cause”.
Blakeway’s probe also contradicted the Town Hall’s position that the 2020 cyber attack was the source of failures around information handling.
“These are more accurately described as scrutiny and oversight failings,” his report stated.
Mayor of Hackney Caroline Woodley said she, the cabinet, and her officers took Blakeway’s report “incredibly seriously”, while stressing the borough’s need for a cash injection to support improvements.
Deputy mayor and housing chief, Guy Nicholson, thanked the ombudsman for his “forensic report”, which brought a “very sharp openness and a sobering reminder about what we’re all here to try and achieve”.
Mayor Woodley (far left) and other top officials at the special scrunity meeting. Photograph: Josef Steen / free for use by LDRS partners
The Citizen later asked the council to respond to the ombudsman calling Hackney an “outlier” regarding the number of severe failures.
Mayor Woodley said: “Hackney is indeed an outlier when it comes to the greater number of social rent homes we provide and maintain, and subsequently the greater impact of damage done by a prolonged period of Tory government austerity.
“I have accepted the ombudsman’s recommendations and am ensuring the council takes action to turn things around.”
Cllr Nicholson said the watchdog had “noted the particular challenges the council recently faced, including pandemic lockdowns, rising prices and deteriorating housing stock – not to mention the cyberattack to all our systems”.
The housing chief said that the ombudsman’s investigation came before the Town Hall introduced its own improvement plan, and that the council had since seen a “significant rise in repairs done and tenant satisfaction”.
He added that Hackney Labour were “proud” to have built so many homes with rents among “the lowest in London and the UK”.
Opposition councillors criticised the council’s response, including its proposed restructuring of the housing department.
The Greens’ co-leader Alastair Binnie-Lubbock said this would risk jobs “when all of the failures identified by the ombudsman were around management and oversight to address the basics”.
“This Labour administration should create policies and procedures that work and give hard-working council staff the tools they need, especially around data systems and action tracking,” he told the Citizen.
“Hundreds of thousands of pounds have already been wasted on failed systems.”
Cllr Penny Wrout of Hackney’s Independent Socialists said the group was surprised by the council’s “complacency”.
“The ombudsman highlighted abject failures on many fronts, yet there was no humility or heartfelt apology from the mayor, housing officers or the cabinet lead for housing,” she said.
“A culture shift at the top should mean ensuring repair jobs are properly checked before they’re signed off, that there are no more jobs ‘lost’ in the system, complaints are dealt with promptly, and cyclical maintenance is carried out before problems reach crisis point.
“If the housing services director can’t produce a clear plan to put matters right within a swift and monitored timetable, he must consider his position.”
Hackney Conservatives’ deputy leader, Cllr Simche Steinberger, said he was “very sceptical of this whole cyber attack business”.
“The council seem to be very selective with what they have and haven’t got. In planning, they have everything,” he said.
“When it suits them, they have all the information.”
The ombudsman has previously raised concerns about landlords in general “switching off to the severity of the detriment housing issues cause residents as the number of severe maladministration cases rise”.