Birmingham Labour have admitted it will take at least 8 years before council tenants in the city have decent homes to live in, due to the chronic underinvestment by Labour as their landlord. Reports to Cabinet today, 16 January 2024, set out an investment plan to respond to findings of the Housing Ombudsman and the Regulator of Social Housing that the Council - described in the press as the ‘biggest slum landlord in the city’- was failing in its duties.
In 2009, Birmingham City Council’s housing department was rated as one of the best three in the country by the audit commission, receiving a two-star rating with excellent prospects (no LA achieved 3 stars). In 8 years under the Conservative-led coalition, the stock condition of council housing in Birmingham increased from just 30% meeting the decent homes standard to over 99% by the time of the 2012 local elections. During these years, under New Labour’s system of national pooling, £77m of rent raised in Birmingham was being handed over to the treasury each year. The self-financing model introduced by the Coalition Government meant a £37.9m additional resources annually (£49.8m after also taking into account rent increases) was available to reinvest in the housing stock. This is a net figure, after adjusting for debt repayments councils had to take on in return for the self-financing model. The nature of the self-financing model also provided consistency and certainty over funding levels that allowed councils to plan and invest, meaning that spending reductions and pressures in other areas of council spending did not have any impact.
Unfortunately, despite this increase, since 2012, whilst nationally the condition of social housing stock has continued to improve (from 15.9% non-decent in 2012 to 7.8% in 2021) in Birmingham it has gone from nearly no non-decent homes when the Labour Administration took control of the Council, to 39% - or 22,469 - of our stock now failing to meet an acceptable standard. In the last 5 years, this has led to over 15,000 complaints of damp or mould. In addition, 68% of Birmingham Council Homes have an energy efficiency rating of D or below, compared to 44% of social housing stock nationally.
Councillor Robert Alden (Con, Erdington) Leader of the Conservative Group said:
“The Conservatives, when in control of the City Council, showed what could be delivered with a relentless focus on fulfilling their duties as landlord and a determination that every council tenant should have a decent home to live in. Sadly Labour, just as they did prior to 2004, have over the last decade shown they are simply incapable or unwilling to do the same and have run the condition of the city’s housing stock back into the ground, undoing 8 years of hard work to improve standards. It is shameful that Labour Councillors should treat their tenants with such disregard. They are acting now, only under pressure from national regulators and seem to be content with a plan that will take another 8 years just to get back to the position they inherited.”
He Continued:
“Going at the pace suggested by the Administration will mean it will be 2032 before tenants can expect to get decent homes in the city. People should be hanging their heads in shame at that being considered an acceptable response. I wonder what the Council’s response would be to any other landlord in this city coming forward and saying ‘We’ll make sure our tenants are in decent homes in eight years time’. Shameful, absolutely shameful.”
Repairs and maintenance of Birmingham’s housing stock is carried out by 2 contractors. Advice from consultants, however, matched calls from opposition parties for this to be split across 4 smaller contracts. Despite paying £100k for this advice, the Labour Administration proceeded to press ahead with plans to reappoint just two contractors, spending a further £500k on consultants to support this process. Unfortunately, but predictably, this procurement process fell apart last summer when costs ballooned. This has led to the Labour Administration now extending the existing contracts for a further two years despite concerns over quality and responsiveness.
The inability to quickly and sufficiently address housing complaints has led to over 9000 properties in Birmingham which have one or more key components that are old and, because of their condition need replacing or major repair. These are things like windows, doors, roofs or central heating systems. Since 2019 there have been 150 findings of mal-administration against the council by the Housing Ombudsman, including 17 of severe mal-administration. A special report into systemic failings due to the number of similar concerns and repeated failings was published last January.
Councillor Ken Wood (Con, Sutton Walmley and Minworth) Shadow Cabinet Member for Housing said:
“The current state of housing in this city is a direct result of the Labour Administration burying its head in the sand and refusing to take issues seriously or to listen to constructive advice, even when they have paid six-figure sums for it! Their failure over the last decade has left tenants living in unfit conditions and meant the bills to put this right have rocketed. If any other landlord in the city had acted in this way, the Labour Council would quite rightly be calling them out, but when it comes to Birmingham Labour, it seems that it is always anyone else's fault but theirs.”
This comes at the same time that Labour has announced it is putting up rents for council tenants by 7.7% - the maximum increase allowed. While this immediate development will be enough to worry social tenants already, the Labour Administration has signalled an interest in attempting a stock transfer of council housing to the private sector – a move which when last researched was likely to lead to a rise in rents by 26%.
Councillor Ewan Mackey (Con, Sutton Roughley) Deputy Leader of the Conservative Group said:
“Council tenants are being hit with a double whammy of a 7.7% increase in rent and a 21% increase in their council tax, all to pay for the mistakes of the failing Labour Administration. For all this extra money, they will be getting even fewer services and will have to wait until the next decade to have a decent home. This is the sad reality of life under Birmingham Labour, a council that is bankrupt in more ways than one.”
