Survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire claim that a culture of ‘incompetence and indifference’ towards social housing tenants continues at the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea more than a year after the disaster.
A senior activist branded the borough ‘a property development company masquerading as a local authority’ because of its focus on catering to and profiting from its wealthy residents and development land at the expense of those in social accommodation.
Addressing the Commons Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, Edward Daffarn said promises and policies that had been brought together by the council were being undermined by the ongoing attitudes of its staff.
Survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire claim that a culture of ‘incompetence and indifference’ towards social housing tenants continues
Mr Daffarn – who leads advocacy group Grenfell United – was one of a number of representatives of victims of the fire who addressed MPs over their treatment at the hands of the council and the ongoing issues survivors face.
When asked if he thought that residents in social housing felt they were being treated as second-class citizens, he replied: ‘There is definitely a group of people in the RBKC that get treated very differently from another group in RBKC.
‘That feeling of being treated with indifference and contempt is just an overriding feeling – we are a year down the line and there are still a significant amount of people living in hotels. It beggars belief.’
He continued: ‘The properties that were bought by RBKC were bought without a fire risk assessment being carried out.
‘When residents were shown the properties, they weren’t told that they hadn’t been fire risk assessed.’
Mr Daffarn said the lack of fire risk assessment was just one example of social housing tenants being treated with indifference by RBKC.
He blamed the toxic relationship between RBKC and its tenants on a ‘cabal’ of senior officers for systematically asset-stripping the borough because it was a ‘gold mine’.
He added: ‘RBKC (council) was a property development company masquerading as a local authority.
‘They failed to keep us safe because they had higher priorities – the priorities were getting us off the land.’
The tenant management organisation in charge of the tower has now been dissolved, but Mr Daffarn voiced his concern that a number of its officers had simply been absorbed into the employment of the council.
Kensington and Chelsea Council leader Elizabeth Campbell and chief executive Barry Quirk arrive at Portcullis House in Westminster, London
‘What are the council doing to monitor the performance of the council that came from Kensington and Chelsea Tennant Management Organisation?’ he asked.
Jacqui Haynes, chairwoman of the Lancaster West Residents Association, said: ‘This is years of disempowerment, years of being looked upon as if we don’t matter.
‘We have been suffering this level of service, this kind of treatment for years -decades.
‘It’s just because this disaster happened that it blew up in their (the council’s) faces and they realised that it can’t continue.’
Mr Daffarn criticised the Government for failing to place the council into special measures immediately after the fire.
‘There’s a vast chasm between the council and the community which at the least will take many, many years to rebuild,’ he said.
RBKC chief executive Barry Quirk – who was appointed in the aftermath of the disaster – said they were now examining council staff’s ‘cultural competencies’ and not just their experience, and that the £50 million budget allocated to help survivors of the fire matched that of the children’s social services department.
‘Turning around an organisation like (RBKC) does take time and we need to evaluate the competencies of managers, we need to change some frontline staff and we need to monitor delivery,’ he said.
Council leader Elizabeth Campbell thanked the victims for the way they have treated councillors in the wake of the fire.
‘I think the way survivors and bereaved have treated us is nothing short of amazing – there has been unbelievable generosity of spirit,’ she said.
‘If my child had died, would I be talking to the council like that? The answer is probably not.’
Both Ms Campbell and Mr Quirk said they were committed to reforming attitudes within the council, but Mr Quirk estimated it would be many years before he was satisfied with the levels of empathy among staff for social housing tenants.