Lambeth council chief slammed by residents at event where he admitted housing failures

By Robert Firth, Local Democracy Reporter

A town hall boss admitted his council’s housing service is failing tenants and leaseholders at a stormy meeting with residents.

Lambeth council chief executive Bayo Dosunmu said improving the service was top of his to-do list at a public event organised by the Housing Ombudsman [HO], a body that deals with complaints about councils.

The meeting in Waterloo yesterday was held ahead of the HO’s inspection into Lambeth’s complaints handling process next month. It will be the first-time the HO has used its powers to inspect a council in-person.

Opening the meeting, Mr Dosunmu said: “We are clear that in too many occasions at Lambeth, we haven’t given you our residents the service that we expect to give you and you deserve to have and we want that to change.

“Improving our housing service in Lambeth is the top priority on our to-do list. It’s the top priority on the leader of the council’s to-do list and it’s the top priority on the cabinet member’s to-do list.”

But Mr Dosunmu’s assurances did little to calm residents at the hour-long event.

HO chief Richard Blakeway’s speech was frequently interrupted by audience members furious at the council’s failures to deal with repairs and the perceived impotence of the HO to take action against Lambeth.

At one point Mr Dosunmu was badgered off stage by attendees to talk to a dying mum who claimed staff at the council’s Brixton headquarters had turned their backs on her when she complained about a leaking roof that was flooding her home.

The woman, who has been living in temporary accommodation in the borough for 13 years, said: “I’ve been flooded over and over again. I went to the civic centre to speak to someone. I thought they were going to have some compassion. They just turned their back, while I was crying. I felt like I wanted to go and stand in the middle of the street. That’s how I’m living.”

Some audience members said the housing service was so bad they thought the council should be placed in special measures or the Government should take over.

Others claimed it was plagued by widespread mismanagement and even corruption.

One audience member, who works in construction, said: “You’re chasing your tail. You’re chasing small individual cases of leaks [when] it’s a management, structural issue that needs to be resolved.”

Mr Blakeway said he had seen “patterns” of poor record management and delays by certain contractors at Lambeth.

Explaining the reasons for inspecting the council next month, he added: “I want to get a greater explanation and a greater understanding of why we keep seeing the same issues presenting in the casework and the same points of service failure.”

Speaking at the end of the hour-long meeting, Councillor Maria Kay, cabinet member for housing, apologised to residents. She said: “I want to say sorry on behalf of the local authority for the experiences that you have all gone through.”

The meeting followed a series of high-profile rebukes of the council by housing secretary Michael Gove.

He has written to Mr Dosunmu twice this year criticising the council over severe service failures identified by the Housing Ombudsman.