The UK Government is launching a major advertising campaign urging social housing tenants to complain about poor and unsafe housing conditions.
The campaign, which will run from March 6 until the end of April, will encourage tenants to voice their complaints to landlords and the Housing Ombudsman if necessary.
Housing Secretary Michael Gove said the campaign would “shine a light” on rogue landlords who ignore their tenants and allow families to live in disrepair.
The government’s focus on substandard housing has been prompted by the outcry following the death of two-year-old Awaab Ishak, who died in December 2020 due to respiratory problems caused by mould in his home.
Images of black mould and leaking ceilings will be used in the campaign, aired on dozens of commercial radio stations and platforms such as Spotify, Amazon Music, and Nextdoor. Adverts will also be broadcast in Arabic, Polish, Bengali, and other languages.
The Social Housing (Regulation) Bill is close to becoming law. He contains plans to strengthen social housing regulation, including the power to issue unlimited fines to landlords who fail to meet standards.
In addition to the campaign, the government will fund training for Citizens’ Advice staff in two pilot areas of London and the northwest to support residents. Housing Ombudsman Richard Blakeway stressed that effective complaint handling starts with landlords getting things right the first time.
However, if things do go wrong, landlords must fix the issue, apologies, offer appropriate compensation, and demonstrate that they have learned from their errors.
Labour’s Lisa Nandy welcomed the campaign but argued that more needs to be done to address the chronic lack of social housing. She also noted that tenants facing rent hikes in a few weeks need more than just the relaunch of an old campaign.
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