A Statement from SHAC A massive housing crisis is shaking the Spanish state. It sends a clear warning to our own government. The housing emergency will lead to unrest, and it needs a fundamental plan to end the commercialisation of our homes. As soaring costs push Spanish working-class communities to the brink, a powerful mass… Continue reading Lessons from Spain: Organising to Fight the Housing Emergency
By David Wood I became a banker in 2007. The lesson I took from the financial crisis was not that banks should cease to exist. It was that systems which appear robust on paper can contain weaknesses that only become visible when the system is stressed. Safeguards should be tested rather than assumed. Looking at… Continue reading The Three Closed Doors: A Stress Test of Leasehold Accountability
New research carried out by SHAC shows that across all the cases of service charges challenged at the First Tier Property Tribunal (FTT), more than 63% of landlords were found to be overcharging for services. This figure rises to more than 66% for housing association landlords. The overcharges in many of the cases were replicated… Continue reading SHAC Research Finds Overcharging in More Than 63% of Tribunal Cases
By Jess Owen A major Social Landlord has claimed that housing associations are not bound by some provisions of the 2010 Equality Act. Peabody Trust, which operates over 100,000 Social Homes and “provide care and support services to around 25,000” people in England, claims that, as they are not listed in a schedule of the… Continue reading Housing Associations and The Equality Act 2010
By Michael Savell Nothing less than total reform will cure the problems with housing. For the last several years I have been involved with SHAC as its Treasurer, and have occasionally contributed to the various Whatsapp groups answering questions and commentating on the problems that tenants and leaseholders have with their landlords. It is very… Continue reading Nothing Less Than Total Reform
Housing Associations Failing Tenants Despite Ombudsman Rulings By Dean Kennedy Despite falling national statistics in police-reported anti-social behaviour (ASB), social housing tenants continue to suffer disproportionately, and housing associations are persistently failing to act – even in cases where they are found at fault by the Housing Ombudsman. Recent government figures show that while police-recorded… Continue reading Social Housing Antisocial Behaviour Crisis
By Richard Simpson, a registered blind tenant of Riverside Housing If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if a crime family decided to take over a housing association, let me introduce you to Riverside Housing Group: a not-so-merry band of landlords with the operational grace of The Sopranos, minus the food and charisma. In fact,… Continue reading The Housing Mafia’s Service Charge Racket
A single day in May has again thrown social housing into the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. A damning report has been published on rising disrepairs complaints, and the media reports the death of a baby in a decaying home owned by a housing association. On Thursday, the Housing Ombudsman published a new report… Continue reading Turning Simmering Anger into Social Action
SHAC has received a government response to our petition posted on the Parliamentary website. The petition, which launched in January 2025, asked government to: Create a new body to regulate landlord and freeholder service chargesWe want the Government to create a new body that is empowered to monitor and regulate private, council, and housing association… Continue reading SHAC Reacts: Government Offers Words But No Reassurance
By Carl Davis The ongoing struggle for reasonable adjustments and the normalisation of adversarial landlord-tenant relations. Securing reasonable adjustments remains an uphill battle for disabled tenants, largely due to landlords’ entrenched resistance. According to the Housing Ombudsman’s Attitudes, Respect, and Rights report, 68% of tenants consulted reported that their landlords had refused to provide reasonable… Continue reading The Ongoing Struggle for Reasonable Adjustments
