The housing ombudsman has warned that ‘simmering anger’ at poor housing conditions could result in social unrest as his office reveals a dramatic increase in repair complaints.
The ombudsman’s latest Spotlight report, titled Repairing Trust, has warned of a national crisis in the maintenance of England’s social housing stock.
It found there had been a 474% increase in complaints concerning substandard living conditions in social housing between 2019-20 and 2024-25.
Nearly three-quarters (72%) of the complaints stemmed from poor practice, including missing records and patterns of poor diagnosis, delays and quality assurance.
Housing ombudsman Richard Blakeway described the current model for maintaining social homes as ‘unsustainable’ and called for the establishment of a national tenant body.
‘Without change we effectively risk the managed decline of one of the largest provisions of social housing in Europe, especially in areas of lowest affordability,’ he said.
‘It also risks the simmering anger at poor housing conditions becoming social disquiet.’
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