Speaking after the most recent meeting of Lambeth’s Cabinet as he embarks on his new position, Cllr Adilypour said he was honoured to be taking on his new responsibilities and keen to hit the ground running in taking forward the borough’s new housing strategy.
“I’m excited because of the big opportunity I’ll now have to work even more closely with residents of Lambeth, and dedicated, hard-working colleagues across Lambeth teams to redouble our efforts to tackle the housing crisis – and to provide an ever-improving housing service to those who need it,” Cllr Adilypour said.
“Our housing strategy sets out our aims and ambitions in this vital area of work. Safe, secure, warm and affordable housing is so important, and creates security and stability in people’s lives. So I’m absolutely determined to tackle all the challenges we face in achieving this.
“This means striving to fulfil our ambition to provide more affordable housing at council rent. I’ve said before that the lack of affordable housing is a moral scar on our society and in Lambeth we are committed to do what we can to tackle this crisis and are working to deliver an additional minimum of 500 new affordable homes on council owned land by 2030.
“I do not underestimate the scale of the difficulties we face, like many councils across the country. Despite our efforts to build the first new council homes in a generation in recent years, with hundreds of homes built for local families at council rent, there aren’t enough genuinely affordable homes for those that need them. And as a result of government cuts and decisions causing us in Lambeth to lose over half a billion pounds, and inflation, we lack the funding needed to improve or retrofit our residents’ homes.
“Over the last 14 years, council housing budgets have been slashed. The council’s ringfenced Housing Revenue Account (HRA), the landlord account that records spending and income from council housing, continues to face significant pressures following central government decisions. Government enforced four years of rent reductions and last year put a cap on how much the council could increase rent despite record high inflation.
“This meant that whilst the council faced rising costs for materials and energy, we were not able to cover these increases by our main income source. Over 30 years, these two decisions will lose the council half a billion pounds. This means less money available for investment in residents’ homes in the borough.”
Cllr Adilypour also highlighted that among his priorities in his new role will be examining how the council meets the new Regulator of Social Housing (RSH), standards that took effect last month.
The new Regulator of Social Housing (RSH), consumer standards have been introduced following the Grenfell Tower tragedy in 2017. Overseen by the RSH they aim to meet a clear need to strengthen social housing regulations to better hold landlords to account for providing safe homes, high-quality services, and treating residents with dignity and respect. The regulator also announced that all social landlords owning more than 1000 homes will be subject to an inspection. The new standards for social housing landlords are intended to protect tenants and improve the service they receive.
“Our Lambeth 2030 vision made plain our commitment to encourage residents to have a say and stake in the decisions that matter so we welcome the new RSH consumer standards,” Cllr Adilypour commented.
As a large landlord, Lambeth expects to undergo inspection at some point. Cllr Adilypour added:
“Despite receiving no additional government funding to meet these new regulations, we look forward to having the opportunity to demonstrate the progress we’re making on our journey to further improve our services to residents and making Lambeth a place we can all call home, with pride.”
Cllr Adilypour also further underlined his commitment to extensive and constructive dialogue and engagement with residents in Lambeth.
He said: “We hope to see many residents soon as we continue with Lambeth’s Estate Action Days and introduce our new Meet the Landlord tours. * These events are real opportunities for residents to hold me and the council’s housing teams to account, and for people to access help with everything from their repairs to their rent. We want to hear from you.”
Nearly 100 residents attended the recent Meet the Landlord Tour in the Kennington and Vauxhall neighbourhood where they engaged with council officers on a wide range of issues including tree planting, anti-social behaviour, and estate parking.
*Meet the Landlord Tour
- Thursday 6 June, Notre Dame Community Hall SW4 9QU. 5pm-7pm
- Thursday 1 August, St Matthews Hall SW2 1NH. 5pm -7pm
