Cllr Clayeon McKenzie, Hackney Labour’s housing services lead, launched a £1 million plan this week to tackle the backlog of repairs for council tenants and leaseholders in Hackney.
He said: “Providing safe and decent homes is our top priority for council tenants and leaseholders in Hackney, but the pandemic stopped us from doing all but emergency repairs and the cyberattack delayed us further when restrictions lifted.
“We now have a backlog of 7,000 repairs which is causing an unacceptable delay to getting issues sorted for our tenants and leaseholders.
“That’s why I’m pleased to launch our £1 million plan to deal with the backlog. We’ll expand our in-house repairs and call centre teams, create a dedicated backlog team and proactively reach out to our most vulnerable tenants that have not reported a repair recently.
“Our plan will ensure the Council is delivering on Hackney Labour’s priority of safe and decent home for all.”
The plan includes:
- Recruiting 20 extra repairs workers
- Recruiting 12 extra call centre staff to improve the speed which calls are answered
- Creating a dedicated team to focus on reducing the backlog
- Completing an urgent review of serious cases
- Checking in with vulnerable tenants who haven’t reported a repair recently
- Providing dedicated properties for tenants who have a serious repair issue to move temporarily, so work can be carried out more quickly