We split into 2 groups and I went with my Canning Town colleague Cllr Shaban Mohammed to the blocks managed by Populo Living which is a Newham Council wholly owned housing company.
One of the first calls I made resulted in a long and complicated investigation into a water leak into one property from the flat above. The boiler of the flat above was leaking and water was running down the hallway below. While this can happen in the best managed blocks it appears that both tenants had contacted Populo and that workmen had come and said either they did not deal with such issues or had the wrong tools but someone would be there "the next day", but no one turned up or rang to explain.
Residents had lost pay by staying at home to wait for a promised visit and were also worried about the cost of water lost since they have meters. Both residents were doing everything they can to try to resolve this situation and as someone who has worked in housing management for many years, there is nothing more frustrating that staying in for a repair when no one turns up. I told both residents that I will be contacting Newham Council and Populo first thing tomorrow to demand they get this sorted out asap and pay any appropriate compensation for failed appointments or water charges.
To be fair, as a ward Councillor I cannot recall ever had any complaints before about these blocks but it was clear to me today that this should have been sorted by now.
There was more case work regarding noise nuisance and theft from motor vehicles but in general residents seemed content with the Council and Populo management but I was disappointed that there was no communal notice board with contact details of any named housing officer responsible for management or cleaning. I will bring this up as well.
By coincidence, two of the flats I called at had Portuguese speaking residents and I was able to chat to them about Portugal and the current Presidential elections.
No comments:
Post a Comment