Milestone in improving ‘serious failings’ of Bristol council housing in terrible condition

However council tenants still believe there is more work to be done and issues like tackling risky asbestos need improving.

In the summer of 2024 the council was hit with a C3 judgement from the Regulator of Social Housing. The council is a social housing landlord with over 27,000 homes across the city. The judgement said its failures were impacting tenant safety and needed significant improvement.

But council bosses now believe they have a “good understanding” of what’s gone wrong in the past as well as having plans in place to fix problems. Data about the condition of the many thousands of homes the council owns is now much clearer, too, like the extent of damp issues. An update was given to the housing policy committee on Friday, December 19.

Green Councillor Barry Parsons, chair of the housing committee, said: “This is an opportunity for us to sit back for a minute and take stock of how far we’ve come. When we set up this committee [in May 2024], we inherited a housing service that under the previous administration was failing our council residents.

“Of the hundreds of housing providers in the country, it was one of only a score to receive a C3 judgement from the Regulator of Social Housing. This was a service that had been neglected and underinvested in for years, and was failing to deliver the basics that any tenant ought to expect: repairs done on time and safety checks. We’re on an enormous improvement journey.”

Every month a group of tenants have been meeting with council staff to scrutinise the work responding to the regulator’s judgement. This panel said they recognised the progress, as well as the improvement in how the council communicates with residents living in its homes. However, they added there was still “more work to do” in improving the quality of services.

More than 40 per cent of the council’s homes have been surveyed in the last five years to check for problems like damp and mould. A target of 70 per cent has been set for this March, and 100 per cent for March next year. The survey results should lead to better maintenance and refurbishments. Damp and mould training has also been provided to over 1,000 staff members.

Two areas still behind target however are managing asbestos and installing smoke detectors. Asbestos which poses the highest risk will be acted on first, but action tracking was described as “basic”. Smoke detectors are being inspected and some are being replaced, but this programme is “slightly behind” targets.