Lambeth Housing: Introduction

Labour in Lambeth is taking firm action to set right the appalling mismanagement of the Council’s housing service that flourished under the Liberal Democrat/Conservative coalition of 2002 to 2006. It is also working with Government to bring in an additional £240 million in much needed investment to bring local tenants homes up to a decent standard.

In May 2002, a Liberal Democrat and Conservative coalition was elected to run Lambeth Council. During the next four years they seriously damaged the housing department. The man in charge was Keith Fitchett. Owning his own villa in the south of France, Councillor Fitchett was not exactly conscientious in fulfilling his duties as Cabinet Member for Lambeth Housing. Indeed, the first thing Cllr Fitchett did after getting his new job was to change council policy so that private developers could bid for council owned properties which were being auctioned off. Funnily enough, he then turned up at the next auction and bid for one of the houses he was flogging off himself!

If this was an inauspicious start, it didn’t get any better for Lambeth’s tenants and leaseholders who were relying on Fitchett to run the Housing department efficiently and competently. The Lib Dems came up with a project called “reframing” which was supposed to save Lambeth Council money, whilst closing a number of local housing offices. As a result, reporting of repairs and complaints was funneled through a new call centre. The problem with reframing was that it didn’t do any of the things it was supposed to. Repairs times slowed down, tenants became alienated from their Housing Department and none of millions of pounds worth of savings materialised.

This picture of financial incompetence was confirmed in 2005 when a massive £3 million fraud was revealed in the Housing Department. Fitchett and his Lib Dem colleagues had let the department drift into financial chaos. This allowed a convicted fraudster to gain employment in housing, write £3 million worth of cheques to a fake company and then disappear with the money. The £3 million that was lost was supposed to pay for new heating systems for tenants. When independent auditors investigated the department following the fraud they described it as being in “chaos”.

From 2002 to 2006, the Lib Dems and Tories failed to get in investment so that Lambeth Council homes could reach the “Decent Homes” target set by the Government. This target states that every council home should be safe, warm, dry and with adequate facilities. During their time in power the Lib Dems and Tories did nothing to bring in money and as a result there is now a £220 million investment gap to be filled if Lambeth is to provide decent homes for its tenants.

In May 2006, the people of Lambeth kicked the Lib Dems and Tories out of office and elected Labour to run Lambeth. When Labour took over they found that the housing department’s finances were in a total shambles, with a projected overspend of over £10 million.

Since that time, Labour has taken firm action to bring the finances back under control, start listening again to local tenants and leaseholders and work with Government to bring in the desperately needed investment to transform the housing stock. The proposal for an Arms Length Management Organisation will put tenants firmly in control, plus bring in millions of extra cash for tenants’ homes.

Read about what the Lib Dems and Tories did when they were in power, what Labour is going to do, the future of housing in Lambeth and share your view on Labours plans for housing in lambeth.