Remember the long waits to get a home repair done

IT is said that those who forget history are condemned to repeat it. I still remember the “good old days”. When you needed a repair, you had to put aside a couple of days to call the council. You’d dial, and then wait for the phone to ring and ring for hours on end. Eventually, somebody would answer and put you on wait, and then they’d hang up on you. 

Finally, you’d decide to go and queue up in your local housing office. You’d be passed from pillar to post and eventually be given a case number and an appointment a month later for someone to come and sort it out.

You’d then have to put aside another whole day to wait for the operatives, who in the end would not show up (but would report that they did). So you’d have to start all over again because there was no record of the ticket number they gave you in the first instance.

In desperation, you’d then take another half day to visit your councillor at his surgery in an attempt to get higher up the pecking order and get the repair done, but as he was in opposition he had as much influence as you did to get things done: close to zero.

Mind you, this story still happens today, about five times in 100. Whereas in the good old days, five times in 10 you’d give up in despair and have the repair done out of your own pocket if you could afford it.

Those who wish to bring Homes for Islington (HfI) back “in-house” should remember that eventually the political pendulum swings back and your councillors will be in opposition with little or no influence over council officers. It is also worth remembering that councillors are volunteers and mostly have other things to do (like making a living, for example). Finally, some councillors are accountable only when elections loom on the horizon, that is once every four years.

What we need is day-to-day accountability, and who best to bring officers to heel than those “who live it in the flesh”: residents themselves.

We need to build on what is already there, imperfect as it is, but a quantum leap ahead of what it was six years ago.
Richard Schunemann
N7

BEFORE becoming a HfI board member, I was a resident activist in Islington for many years. 

My many years of experience of housing in this borough allow me to say that the estates are cleaner than they have ever been, empty properties are re-serviced and re-let quickly, most repairs are completed on time and the rents are effectively collected. 

There is always more we could do and things we can improve but our rising levels of satisfaction show that our detractors are badly out of touch with what most residents think. I believe our improvement stems from the fact that we are a resident-led board who are able to tap into the real concerns of residents.

We accept the council will periodically review the way it delivers its housing management services but this does not mean that misleading comments should not be challenged.

Fact: Residents do have direct access to board members at each board meeting. Residents are able to come and ask questions or raise concerns and the board will investigate. Board members are neither “gagged” nor tenants left with “nowhere to raise concerns”.

Fact: Board members do not receive pay and expenses. A board member receives  an annualised allowance which, for all but the chair and vice-chair who get a special responsibility allowance just like our leading councillors, is only £166 a month before tax and national insurance to cover our expenses – we get nothing else. 

Fact: Islington isn’t  going to privatise the housing stock. The new housing revenue account settlement for Islington means stock transfer of ownership to a housing association is not required to secure the required investment needed in our homes. This is just scaremongering.

Fact: There are not “layers of superfluous highly-paid managers”. This spring the board  has cut one service director post as well as  a  range of other senior manager jobs, protecting resources going into frontline services.

It’s easy to stand on the sidelines and shout out that everything is wrong. My colleagues and I have been elected by residents to get involved and take responsibility for decisions. I imagine if HfI was to close then there would still be those standing on the sidelines, still shouting foul, as usual.
Jesse White
Homes for Islington resident board member

Published: 15th July, 2011