'Serious failings' in Brighton and Hove's council housing
A new report's uncovered thousands of repairs from years ago still haven't been carried out
Thousands of council homes in Brighton and Hove have not had fire risk or electrical reports, according to a government report
The Regulator of Social Housing said Brighton and Hove City Council’s housing department has “serious failings” and needs to make “significant improvements.
It found out of approximately 12,100 social housing homes the council owns, 3,600 are without an electrical condition report.
There are more than 600 homes where a water risk assessment is required but not completed and 500 are at least three months overdue for water safety repairs and improvements.
The council has also found more than 1,700 medium and low-risk fire-related repairs and improvements which are overdue by a minimum of two years.
There is a reported backlog of around 8,000 low-risk, low-priority repairs which were raised in 2023, and some date back to 2021.
When housing repairs were in crisis in 2022, the number reached 10,000 as workers tackled a backlog that built up through the covid-19 pandemic.
In the last quarter of 2023/24 the Housing Performance Quarterly Report to councillors showed routine repairs were taking 92 days to complete against a target of 15 days.
Of the 5,277 routine repairs reported in the last quarter of 2023/24, 2,180 (41 per cent) of these were completed within 28 days when the target is 70 per cent.
The housing report published in June said that the quarterly average for 2023/24 has increased to 8,854 repairs carried out (of which 3,438 emergency and 5,416 routine).
The average number of repairs per quarter between 2015 and 2020 before the council brought the service in-house, when private company Mears held the contract, was 8,102 repairs per quarter.
The regulator’s report said: “The Safety and Quality Standard requires landlords to provide an effective, efficient, and timely repairs, maintenance and planned improvements service for the homes and communal areas for which they are responsible.
“The information provided to us by Brighton and Hove City Council during our engagement with it demonstrates it is failing to provide an effective, efficient, and timely repairs service.
“Brighton and Hove City Council reported a backlog of around 8,000 low-risk, low-priority repairs, the majority of which were raised in 2023 however some date back to 2021.
“Brighton and Hove City Council also shared its performance data in relation to the completion of routine repairs which shows that it has been consistently below its target timescale for more than a year.
“Taking into account the breadth and significance of the issues across the relevant outcomes of the Safety and Quality Standard, we have concluded that there are serious failings in how Brighton and Hove CC is delivering the outcomes of the Safety and Quality Standard and significant improvement is needed.”
The Regulator of Social Housing contacted the council in October 2023, after it was aware of the backlog of repairs.
Conservative group leader councillor Alistair McNair said his party were not surprised at the “serious failings” and criticised Labour for in-sourcing housing repairs when they were previously in power in 2019.
Councillor McNair said: “In Patcham and Hollingbury, residents complain to us about the state of their windows, damp, cleanliness and often the lack of support when dealing with challenging neighbours.
“Labour complains about the private sector when, with an expensive housing sector, they should be wooing private landlords.
“They complain about the quality of the private sector when it is social housing which clearly does not meet the required standards.
“Labour must get a quick grip on the quality of social housing in the city – they are clearly letting some of our poorest and most vulnerable residents down.”
Councillor Gill Williams, cabinet member for housing and new homes said the issues raised are serious and the council is introducing new measures to improve work in the areas of concern identified.
Councillor Williams said: “Clearly, however, there is still much work to be done and this council will not shy away from either the criticism within this report, or the urgent hard work needed to improve our services.
“Like many councils with a largely ageing housing stock, we do face challenges in modernising our homes, and are absolutely committed to doing so.
“Even so, this report shows there are areas where even allowing for those challenges, we owe it to our residents to be performing better. Our promise now is that we will.
“Everyone deserves to live in safe, secure, affordable and high-quality housing and should expect nothing less.
“This council has not met that expectation. We deeply apologies to all those who have been affected.”