After Grenfell the Government made a promise to survivors and bereaved to review how people in social housing are treated. Now they have published The Charter for Social Housing Residents: Social Housing White Paper. This is our statement on the white paper:
"Grenfell United have long fought for one of the legacies of the Grenfell fire tragedy to be that people who live in social housing feel that there is a difference in their lives. Three and a half years on that’s not the case - residents across the country are still treated badly.
"We, along with the housing charity, Shelter, called for a brand new regulator. We didn’t get that. We’ve got the same Social Housing Regulator but for the first time this regulator will be tasked with rooting out toxic landlords through proactive inspections and tenants will have more rights to pursue complaints through the Ombudsman.
"If this White Paper is going to make a difference the Regulator and the Ombudsman need to understand the devastating impact bad landlords can and do have on people’s lives. We have little faith that bad landlords will improve themselves - so the responsibility now lies with the Regulator and Ombudsman to use their new powers to ensure no residents are ever treated how we were.
"Ultimately it will be for residents themselves to determine if these changes go far enough to making their lives better and homes safer - and creating a lasting legacy for the 72 innocent lives so needlessly lost at Grenfell."
The Charter for Social Housing Residents: Social Housing White Paper can be read at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-charter-for-social-housing-residents-social-housing-white-paper