Social landlords are failing disabled residents, says Housing Ombudsman report

The majority of social landlords asked to make reasonable adjustments to the homes of disabled residents declined to do so, a new report has found.

The Housing Ombudsman, which gathered more than 1,663 responses for the Relationship of Equals report, today called for a new long-term plan for “vulnerable” residents.

The report gathered responses from 1,275 social residents, 171 landlords and 217 advocacy services, including Citizen’s advice.

The Ombudsman found that 58% of the resident respondents said they considered themselves to have a disability. Of those, only 19% said their landlord had made reasonable adjustments for them. 

A minority (5%) of disabled residents said they had not told their landlord about their requirements or otherwise had not asked for any adjustments.

More than two thirds of disabled residents (68%) said that their landlord had not made any reasonable adjustments, such as aids and adaptations to their homes, despite being asked to. 

Landlords responded by reporting a lack of resources and a breakdown of trust hampering communication with residents.

The Ombudsman asked residents to rate their landlords out of five (one being the worst, five being the best) over how well informed they felt their landlord kept them. 

For communication around repairs, complaints and policies more than half of respondents gave their landlords the lowest rating, one.

By contrast, the majority of tenants surveyed rated their landlords between three and five for communication regarding changes to rent and service charges - leading one resident to describe themselves as a “powerless cash cow”.

The Ombudsman in its report called for the implementation of a new “vulnerability” strategy, including a new statutory definition of the term, and changes to who assesses and reviews it.

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Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, said: “Too often in our casework, residents’ vulnerabilities are missed or the response is inappropriate. Too often the concept of vulnerability is ill-defined by the landlord. Disrepair in homes or poorly handled anti-social behaviour in neighbourhoods is creating – or exacerbating – vulnerabilities.”

Blakeway called for greater cooperation between health bodies and social landlords and urged landlords to “reflect on how their services and policies can be adapted to bring about positive changes for all residents.”

The report also proposes introducing minimum staff training requirements such as Dementia Friends, and training on customer care, mental health, learning disabilities, and sight and hearing loss.

Blakeway added: “Central to our report is what it means to be vulnerable in social housing today, how landlords can respond effectively, and how to do so without stigma or marginalisation.”

The Ombudsman says it has learned from its one researching, amending its Reasonable Adjustments policy, implementing a new Safeguarding policy and introducing new guidance for Equality and Human Rights to support formal investigations.

Mark Washer, chief eExecutive of Sovereign Network Group, said: “It’s welcome that The Housing Ombudsman’s report recognises the complexity of the relationship between tenants and their changing needs, and also the impact of austerity on public services.

”Landlords should understand and make the reasonable adjustments that customers’ need in delivering our responsibilities to them but it’s important this does not lead to incessant extensions of the limits of the landlord role. I hope this can drive a wider debate, recognising housing as a critical part of our national infrastructure, with a long-term strategy in place soon as possible to maximise investment into existing and new homes.”