DOZEN of people have been put in touch with expert advice and support just seven weeks into Thurrock Council’s well homes project.
With the support of the well homes adviser, some 57 households have completed assessments of potential risks to their health or wellbeing posed by their homes. Such problems could include leaking roofs and inadequate heating.
In a 12 month pilot programme the adviser is visiting privately owned or rented homes in selected parts of three wards: Tilbury Riverside and Thurrock Park, Grays Riverside and West Thurrock and South Stifford.
However, the adviser and assessment also cover a much wider range of factors that could prove an obstacle to a healthy and happy life. These include lack of exercise, smoking and issues around debt or unemployment.
By the middle of July the adviser had made 127 referrals to other services for support or advice, including:
23 to energy advice services
26 to Essex fire and rescue service
29 to health and lifestyle services
33 to Thurrock Council services such as social care and domestic abuse.
The adviser has also referred 11 private sector tenants to the council’s private housing service to raise issues with landlords. Another 14 are now talking to the same service about possible access to ‘well homes’ offers such as security measures and gas and electrical safety checks.
The most frequent causes for concern identified were damp and mould, inadequate heating and unsafe electrics.
The council’s housing department and public health teams are working together on the project, reflecting the growing recognition of the role housing plays in our health.
Housing portfolio holder Cllr Lynn Worrall said: “Things as basic as leaks or draughts can have a big impact on our health. Obviously we should also look out for things like fall hazards or unsafe electrics. It is thought that every year hundreds of thousands of people, particularly older people, have housing-related health problems that are unpleasant or painful for them and costly to the NHS.
“I’m pleased that the methods we are testing out to reduce the impact of poor housing on our health are already producing real results for local people.”
The adviser’s work has also helped identify seven properties that have been vacant for some time. The council’s empty properties team will follow these up so they can provide desperately-needed housing.
The council will evaluate the results of the pilot but it hopes to extend the project across the borough.
To find out if you are eligible for a free well home check, for more information or to ask the adviser to visit your home please call the well homes team on 01277 239909, email [email protected] or visit the council’s website at www.thurrock.gov.uk/wellhomes
It’s rather a pity that this “expert advice and support” does not extend to Thurrock Council tenants, like me.
…and so it takes an external adviser to tell Thurrock Council where the empty homes are! That just about sums it all up nicely.
I would love to see these “experts” follow up on some of the cases they are involved in that have lead to private landlords having their properties looked at by the fire brigade, the council or other bodies that has resulted in the landlord having to carry out renovations or repairs. I’d put money on it that a number of those tenants will soon be ex tenants.
The council hands out benefits to private landlords without first checking that the property involved is habitable. In a lot of cases they are not.
I know a person who lives in an HMO above a shop. He receives Local Housing Allowance for this single room. I say LHA but it really should be renamed the bedroom tax for private tenants as it has exactly the same effect as the so called bedroom tax on council tenants. It’s just that the left can’t bring themselves to call it this because it was introduced by the Labour party. The difference here is he has no bedroom, separate kitchen, bathroom etc. He has a single room and shares other facilities with 6 other people.
The room he lives in is above the refridgerator’s in the shop below which means the temperature in his room is over 90 degrees in the current weather. He has to hang his clothes in his room to dry them because he doesn’t have the money to go to a launderette and there are no drying facilities in the building. He has one small window in his room which opens about 4 inches so he can’t properly ventilate the room which leads to damp and mould.
He cooks in his room and has a small fridge and freezer in his room. Last week his ceiling light exploded, burning a hole in his carpet. There are no smoke alarms or fire alarms. There is only one way out of the building which is the main stairwell. This stairwell is regularly blocked by boxes from the shop below. In winter time there is regularly no heating due to an antiquated boiler continually breaking down.
He has to pay £12 per week out of his own benefits to meet the weekly rent because the LHA, or Labour’s private tenants bedroom tax as it should be known, doesn’t cover the full amount of the rent for a single room.
He wouldn’t dare complain or even contemplate going to see one of these “experts” as the council have told him he isn’t entitled to a council property because he’s single and he knows the next step on the housing ladder for him if he complains is the pavement. He is 53 years old, suffers from arthritis in his hands and knees. He has had both knees operated on in the last 3 years because of it.
He reads the stories about council tenants not getting proper repairs carried out and about the so called bedroom tax for council tenants and just laughs and says he would love to speak to someone from the Labour party and have them tell him how they have helped him. This latest wheeze will not help him because most private tenants will be evicted if they complain.