Eight Years After Grenfell, the Government Still Doesn’t Know How May Homes Are Unsafe and Has No Clear Plan to Fix Them

Keir Starmer’s Government’s plans to fix the dangerous cladding problems left in the wake of the Grenfell fire tragedy are not working and risk leaving three million people trapped in unsafe homes, a new parliamentary report has warned.

MPs on the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee say they are appalled that despite new plans drawn up last year, ministers still do not know how many homes are affected by unsafe cladding, what is the cost of bringing them up to standard and how long it will take to do so. MPs have given the Government until July to come up with the figures.

Their report also reveals that the scale of the problem could derail the Government’s promise to build 1.5 million new homes – especially affordable ones – because money to build new homes is being diverted to repair homes affected by the aftermath of Grenfell.

In London this has been particularly dramatic with new affordable housing starts reduced by 88% over the last financial year. Across England it is 39%.

Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP, Chair of the Commons Public Accounts Committee, said: “The Grenfell tower fire will forever be a badge of shame for the nation. Residents were let down by failings at every level. A community was traumatised, and 72 lives were lost. Rightly, all in positions of responsibility have vowed to do everything in our power to prevent such a disaster ever happening again. But eight years after Grenfell, it is still not known how many buildings out there have dangerous cladding, and when it will be removed. That vow remains unkept for every day that is still the case.

“As a chartered surveyor, I take a deep personal interest in building safety. I was utterly appalled by the evidence given to our inquiry, showing residents still mired in the national cladding crisis, with no immediate solutions at hand. Leaseholders with modest financial means can often be left with potentially large financial liabilities, effectively rendering their property unsaleable…

“That crisis shows signs of having a chilling effect on housebuilding overall, with social housing providers forced to divert resources to remediation rather than badly needed new homes. Despite longstanding promises to make industry pay, Government has yet to find a way to secure this outcome.”

The report says the Ministry of Housing’s programme to deal with this is also being hampered by a lack of skilled fire assessors and cladding  workers.

“This is likely to be exacerbated by a wider context of ambitious housebuilding targets and constrained construction sector capacity,” the report states.

“Yet MHCLG appears complacent about the risks posed by this lack of capacity. Despite MHCLG’s assurances of additional funding and support for local authorities, local authorities may still lack the powers, capability or capacity to undertake the volume of necessary enforcement action.”

The committee were given some stark examples of the current problems. One housing association, the Islington and Shoreditch Housing Association, has had to sell off social housing in a high-value area of London to pay for remedial works to one of their buildings.

Darren Paffey, Labour MP for Southampton, Itchen, sent in a dossier showing problems faced by residents with developers carrying out remediation.

Two involve Barratt Homes, one of the Government’s partners for the new housebuilding programme. One development of 40 flats built by Barratt was found to have serious fire problems – with no fireproofing for the steel frame of the building.  The local fire authority banned the use of the underground car park because of the fire risk and according to his submission “serious construction defects were found, including a complete lack of fireproofing on internal steels.

For over 55 weeks, the building has remained covered in scaffolding without progress, blocking light and access to fresh air. Constituents are left without balcony access, heating issues, and evidence of water damage, while a 24-hour waking watch remains in place.”

Local government leaders said the continued squeeze on local authority budgets was hampering efforts to solve the problem.

“Councils are committed to keeping tenants and residents safe, and are keen to work with Government to drive the pace of remediation,” Cllr Adam Hug, Housing spokesperson for the Local Government Association said.

“However, as this report shows, it is still a major issue that requires significant funding and resource to address properly. The severe financial pressures facing councils is having an impact on their ability to carry out this work as swiftly as they, and their communities, would like.”

A government spokesperson said: “This Government has been taking tough and decisive action after years of dither and delay, going further than ever before to speed up the unacceptably slow pace of remediation and provide an end in sight for residents who have suffered for too long. 

“We continue to work closely with industry, local authorities, and residents to accelerate remediation efforts while ensuring those responsible for unsafe buildings cover the costs, with new penalties and criminal sanctions on building owners who refuse to take action.”