The Tower Hamlets Housing Management Cabinet Sub-Committee met to discuss tenant feedback, housing standards, and future policy. The committee approved a new policy for vulnerable tenants and leaseholders, and agreed to review its progress on housing improvements in September. They also noted the outcome of a Regulator of Social Housing inspection, and discussed plans to address areas where the council is not meeting consumer standards.

Vulnerable Tenants and Leaseholders Policy Approved

The sub-committee approved the Vulnerable Council Tenants and Leaseholders Policy, aiming to support vulnerable residents in accessing housing management services and sustaining their tenancies. The policy includes a definition of a vulnerable tenant, which had not been previously defined, as well as support available and how staff and contractors can be made aware of vulnerabilities.

Councillor Kabir Ahmed, Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Inclusive Development and Housebuilding, requested that Stephen Platt, Director of Property & Assets, meet with Shafiq, an advisor in the mayor's office, to assist and support the council in working with vulnerable people.

The policy includes a commitment to ensuring that staff and contractors are aware of the needs of residents who they're visiting. An equality impact assessment¹ (EIA) at the end of the policy showed that tenants would positively benefit from it, with no negative impact.

Regulator of Social Housing Inspection Outcome

The committee noted the outcome of the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) inspection, which gave the council a C3 grading, indicating serious failings in meeting consumer standards, particularly around building safety, stock condition, and non-decency².

Darren Reynolds, Interim Head of Regulatory Assurance, clarified that this was not a downgrade, as the consumer standards only came into effect in April 2024. He also noted the RSH acknowledged the council's positive approach, strong corporate leadership, and a clear improvement plan.

The report noted that 70% of council homes do not meet the decent homes standard. The council has invested £140 million in an accelerated stock survey program to address building safety and decent homes, aiming to alleviate the non-decency rate by 2026.

Councillor Ahmed noted that the inspection came at a fantastic stage in our evolution as an administration and that the council had serious concerns about the repair service, mould and condensation, and the condition of the housing stock. He also raised concerns about the quality of workmanship of repairs carried out by Mears, giving an example of a repair to a worktop in a property in Watts Grove, Bromley-by-Bow, where two different colours had been used.

Mr Platt said that he was looking at the capital programme and the repair side, and that he was looking to recruit a permanent head of repairs as well as a permanent head of capital programme.

Housing Management Performance and Compliance

The committee reviewed the Housing Management Performance and Compliance Report for April 2025. The report highlighted positive trends in housing service centre performance, repair satisfaction, and complaints handling. The quarter one tenant satisfaction measure for overall resident satisfaction improved to 70%.

However, there were ongoing challenges in repairs, voids³, and letting services. Since the time of the reporting, voids performance has improved, with May's turnaround nearer 25 days.

Councillor Maium Talukdar, Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Member for Education, Youth and Lifelong Learning (Statutory Deputy Mayor), raised concerns about the lift servicing programme, noting that there was nothing in place at this stage. It was reported that the council was working to get an underperforming contractor out of the door and appoint Stannah, and that this was a matter of weeks, not months.

Housing Management Policies Plan

The committee discussed the Housing Management Policies Plan, which sets out how the council is updating a range of policies.

Councillor Ahmed said that the enlargement and enhancement policies need to be enabling, not restrictive, and that the council wants a policy that enables knock-throughs and extensions to happen.

He also raised concerns about the damp and mould policy, which has been pushed back to November. David Joyce, Corporate Director, said that Awaab's Law will start from October, and that the policy is more in line with being ready for Awaab's Law than to say they are going to start dealing with damp and mould in November, as they are absolutely dealing with it now.

Councillor Ahmed also commented on the antisocial behaviour and acceptable behaviour policies, saying that they should both be high priority.

Karen Swift, Director of Housing, said that the four policies that are no longer appearing in this list because they're out of scope will be going to cabinet in another guise, such as the rent setting one which will come as part of the budget setting process.

Your Voice, Our Action: Safe Homes, Great Services Programme

The committee discussed the Your Voice, Our Action: Safe Homes, Great Services Programme, which aims to improve housing management services by centering tenant voice, ensuring council homes are safe, and meeting consumer standards.

David Joyce said that the regulator had mentioned the importance of the council doing root cause analysis, as governance and cracking the whip to get them to fix the problems will only take them so far if they haven't addressed the underlying issues.

The committee agreed to the closure of the Governance workstream following the completion of all deliverables, and agreed to the establishment of two new programme workstreams: Policies and Procedures, and Resident Engagement. They also agreed that a review of progress be undertaken, with findings to be presented to the Cabinet Sub-Committee in September.

Housing Ombudsman Annual Self-Assessment

The committee approved the council’s annual complaint performance report for 2024-25, and the council’s annual self-assessment against the Housing Ombudsman’s statutory complaint handling code.