Housing associations have long understood the benefits of drawing political figures into their orbit. Clarion Housing Group snagged ex-housing minister Gavin Barwell when they invited him to join their board in December 2019, where he continues to govern.
If the tenants and residents of Clarion, Britain’s largest housing association at the time, had been asked whether he was fit to join their landlord’s leadership, it is unlikely that many would have agreed. Yet for Clarion, an individual so well connected to the political establishment offers many opportunities to steer government housing policy, regulation and legislation in their favour.
Barwell (pictured) served as MP for Croydon Central from 2010 until 2017. He became a member of the Privy Council and was appointed Chief of Staff by Theresa May. He now has a life peerage.
Between July 2016 and June 2017, Barwell served as Minister of State for Housing and Planning. He lost his seat in the general election held on 8th June 2017 – less than a week before the Grenfell fire hit the headlines. His contribution to the tragedy is now a matter of record after he gave evidence at the public inquiry. It revealed that Barwell had been repeatedly contacted over a period of years by a fire safety Parliamentary committee concerned about fire risks in tower blocks. Barwell met their concerns with a stony silence. At least 72 people died in the Grenfell fire.
A New Crop of Influencers
Following the general election in July 2024, we now see the ties between housing associations and Parliament strengthened but from the opposite direction. The new suite of MPs includes no less than five housing association executives; four representing the Labour Party and one Liberal Democrat.
The Labour MPs are Andrew Lewin who worked as a director at Clarion Housing Group prior to his election to represent Welwyn Hatfield. Alan Strickland, the new MP for Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor, is a former corporate director at Southern Housing. David Smith, who won a seat in North Northumberland, was chief executive of the small Oasis Community Housing in Gateshead. They are joined by Sarah Russell, a former vice chair of Wythenshawe Community Housing, who took Congleton. Finally, Lee Dillon served as locality manager at the giant Sovereign Network Group and now represents Newbury on behalf of the Liberal Democrats.
At one remove is Dan Tomlinson, the new Labour MP for Chipping Barnet who led on work, technology, markets and risk sharing policy at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. This anti-poverty charity is the parent organisation of the Joseph Rowntree Trust housing association.
Another new MP with an interest in housing is Jenny Riddell Carpenter. She took the Suffolk Coastal seat for Labour, and was previously a managing director at lobbying firm Cratus Group so will be well-versed in the arcane processes of Parliament. The construction sector also has a new Labour representative in Mike Reader, who formerly worked as company director for building firm Mace and is now MP for Northampton South.
The Golden Web Grows
SHAC previously exposed the ‘golden web‘ of connections between high profile individuals in housing associations, regulatory bodies, and civil servants which is in part responsible for the gradual tilting of power away from tenants and residents and in favour of landlords. Multiple reforms to the legislative and regulatory frameworks that govern the housing association sector have slackened government’s ability to control the sector and hold bad operators to account.
After the scandal of damp, mould and disrepair on the Eastfields estate, Inside Housing reported Gove’s public admonition of Clarion and his promise that action would follow. None did.
Such weakness has become palpable. Michael Gove, the former Secretary of State for Housing, was forced to resort to writing public letters chastising the likes of Clarion for example over the horrendous conditions on the Eastfields estate (and elswhere) when all other levers of power had been relinquished by his government. The impact was predictably negligible.
The housing association sector’s fortified influence on government has implications for housing activists and campaign groups. These individuals are in positions of power, with ready access to decision makers. Behind closed doors they will vocally resist our collective demands for an end to service charge abuse, investment in council housing, rent controls, and otherwise increasing the accountability of landlords.
But this is a fight that cannot be lost. Over six million tenants and residents live in housing associations homes. While some of the legislation promised by the new government is to be welcomed, we must not be lulled into believing that those fighting for housing justice will automatically find a sympathetic ear in Parliament. The task of building alliances and organising to unite those affected by bad housing has become ever more urgent and important.
17 July 2024
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Thanks to SHAC we can get valuable information about the very mechanisms corrupt Housing officials weave their tangled sophisticated webs of deception.
Anchor Hanover Group have their backs against the wall on their multitude of abuses regarding service charges and how they hound tenants out/illegally frame/terrorise tenants – that dare to ask questions of them – what century do we live in ?