Homes for Islington chief, Eamon McGoldrick gives assurance that HfI will put right poor repair work for tenants

Published: 5 March 2010
by PETER GRUNER

THE chief executive of Islington’s housing agency defended his organisation this week amid widespread criticism from leaseholders and tenants.

Eamon McGoldrick, head of Homes for Islington (HfI), maintained that residents were receiving “good value for money” during refurbishment work despite claims that the improvements could have been done cheaper by making more use of local firms.

He spoke out following a recent public meeting at which 150 leaseholders and tenants berated Lib Dem council leader Councillor Terry Stacy, council chief executive John Foster and Mr McGoldrick for an “unsatisfactory” housing service.

In the wake of the meeting, leaseholders’ and tenants’ spokesman Dr Brian Potter has vowed to set up a Residents’ Party to contest the local elections.

Mr McGoldrick said that if tenants wanted to complain about inadequate work they should bring it to HfI’s attention. He added: “We can remedy the situation and even make contractors return to site and make right the work.

“We also have the power to reduce what we pay to the contractor if the work is not satisfactory, which could mean reductions to the leaseholder.”

Mr McGoldrick said that government inspectors from the Audit Commission had recently made full inspections of the housing service and talked to staff and customers. “They have checked our systems and performance indicators and have given us three stars for excellent service with excellent prospects for further improvement,” he added.

As for high bills, Mr McGoldrick said that the council has put in financial support arrangements to help those struggling to pay. They often have up to ten years to pay off bills, with reduced interest and some interest-free periods.

“The average bills are round £5,000, although Spa Green at Finsbury, which is a listed estate, has had bills a lot higher,” he said.

He admitted there was considerable anger, particularly among leaseholders, adding: “We have to work with it. Our job is to provide services to tenants and leaseholders and sometimes there are natural tensions when you are trying to carry out improvement work.

“We comply with European procurement rules. We always tender competitively and make sure the work is delivered to the right quality and on time and budget.”

The council has spent £600million over four years on repairs to estates which had had nothing done for several decades. “Many residents are happy with the work but obviously many didn’t like the bills,” he said.

The decision to withdraw £100,000 from tenants’ and leaseholders’ representative groups last year came in for criticism. Mr McGoldrick said: “The board voted to withdraw the money and invest it in other forms of resident participation. We reach more residents now with better consultation, a residents’ comments register and focus groups.”

The bulk of the current programme of refurbishment work comes to an end next year when the annual £100million bill will be reduced to £30million.

Job losses are expected and consultations will take place with staff and trade unions, but Mr McGoldrick maintains there will very few redundancies.

HfI will continue a programme of building new homes, with 120 already complete and another 40 to be built next year.

One innovation aimed at cutting overcrowding for large families is to turn some large properties which had been converted into flats back into four- to seven-bedroom homes.

Mr McGoldrick said that HfI, an arms’-length management organisation would remain in place until at least 2014. “Then it will be up to the council to decide the future of the housing service,” he added.