Emily Thornberry carried out a survey of more than 400 Housing Association residents asking them whether they felt the service from their landlord was poor or very bad. The results showed:
The Worst 5 Housing Association Estates
More than half of residents feel their landlord's service is poor or very bad:
1. The Priors (Peabody)
2. Killick Street (Peabody)
3. Priory Green (Peabody)
4. Marquess / New River Green (Southern)
5. Ringcross (Hyde Northside)
The Best 5 Housing Association Estates
Less than 1 in 10 residents feel their service is poor or very bad:
1. Moreland Mews / Gissing Walk (Barnsbury Housing Association)
2. Muriel Street (Peabody)
3. Harry Weston (Harry Weston Coop)
4. Farringdon Lane (Peabody)
5. Old Royal Free (Circle 33)
In addition, the estates on Cornelia Street and Corporation Street got a high number of people saying the service from their Housing Association was good or excellent.
The worst results came from 3 Kings Cross estates managed by Peabody - Priory Green, The Priors, and Killick Street estates - though Peabody's Muriel Street and Farringdon also made it into the top 5.
Emily said:
"You can see that certain Housing Associations are doing well on some estates but not on others. Look at Peabody - they have got estates in both the top five and bottom five in my constituency. I am concerned that the current inspections of Housing Associations happen at the top level and miss this kind of thing. Residents know best how well an individual estate is run, so I want to give them the power to sack their landlord if they want to"
Even on the well-run estates, Emily says she wants to make sure tenants get more say over how their estates are run, as her survey found that:
- Residents feel they and their neighbours understand their estate's problems better than their Housing Association - but that they think their Housing Association has a far greater say.
- Residents are willing to give their Housing Association a fair chance. For example, on the Market Estate and Priory Green, over 80% of residents agree there are big problems. However, only a small group of people on the Market feel their Housing Association is doing nothing about these problems, in comparison to well over half the residents of Priory Green.
In response the widespread feeling that residents need more say in the way Housing Associations run their estates, Emily Thornberry tabled the Housing Association (Rights and Representation of Residents) Bill. This would force Housing Associations to listen to their tenants more - and would give tenants the ultimate power to fire their Housing Association when they are run badly.
Under existing arrangements, Housing Associations are inspected annually by the Housing Corporation and the Audit Commission. These inspections focus on the organisations' top levels - and so problems on local estates are often overlooked.
In a radical overhaul, the Housing Association Bill would hand the power for inspection to tenants on individual estates. It proposes that:
- Housing Associations should be forced to produce - in agreement with their tenants - an estate-level service pledge
- The tenants themselves could trigger an inspection of their service if they felt their Housing Association wasn't doing its job
- And if a Housing Association was judged to be failing on a particular estate, tenants would have the right to press a ‘nuclear button' - and fire their Housing Association in favour of another.
Although Private Members Bills rarely become law immediately, the Government has signalled interest in the Bill and has started to conduct a review into reforming the relationship between Housing Associations and their tenants.
Emily said:
"I want to give tenants the power to have a say in the way their estates are run - and to fire their Housing Association when they are run badly. Estates in my constituency would be run better if the Housing Associations listened to tenants more. I am glad it looks like the Government will take up some of the ideas from my Bill, and I will keep working with the Housing Minister to make sure the Government takes as radical action as possible".
