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Surviving Squalor:  Britain's Housing Shame:  ITV 10.15 last night

Absolutely disgusting and disgraceful situation - in housing block after housing block - in borough after borough and much of it seemed to be caused by lack of maintenance.https://www.mylondon.news/news/south-london-news/croydon-housing-crisis-failure-fix-20547964https://redbrickblog.co.uk/2021/09/squalor-and-the-return-of-real-capitalism/https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/tv-providers-and-services/article/catch-up-tv/itv-hub-itv-s-catch-up-tv-service-a619t1J8CLWY

Philippa Bond ● 1458d6 Comments

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oduVAdy1ZZg

Philippa Bond ● 1446d

I was surprised to learn we have more than 500000 children destitution.

Nicholas Beard ● 1446d

and the 'hue' of Kensington & Chelsea, the UK's richest Council?You know perfectly well that the problem comes from political ideology and the lack of social housing and the lack of funding to build it.  Councils have been forced to take other routes to build.  Norwich managed to build the Stirling Prize winning Goldsmith Street and then almost immediately the Chancellor of the Exchequer made sure that no other Council could do the same thing.

Philippa Bond ● 1447d

...And yet this is still what they insist on building.Nothing has been learned from 3 generations of social housing.Rather it has, but is conveniently ignored.But the culture of what goes on between large developers, governments and councils and executives is too secretive and needs serious and radical reform.It's warped culture has become the acceptable norm. It is at the very least morally corrupt.  And we now see whole generations like Jenrick and Mason and many others who know no other way and cannot see just how wrong this all is.And yet again, the BBC report from overheating Karachi ignores the one common cause - overdensification ..which just gets brushed aside when some of the more pragmatic environmentalists raise it.Primarily because it is too sensitive and solutions have no scope for profit.

Raymond Havelock ● 1458d

"....... the slums of tomorrow......"North Acton?

Rosco White ● 1458d

I would commend to your reading (sadly not online) Private Eye in issues too numerous to mention where the debacle of Croydon Council unravelled, and indeed continues so to do. Friends of friends establishing development companies, public assets sold off on the cheap, six figure payouts for poor performance. The catalogue of failure is astonishing not only in housing but also in the public domain with the, once wonderful, Fairfield Halls unlikely to ever see the end of its redevelopment due to a combination of chronic overspending and a lack of will to deliver anything of benefit to the community. I will leave you to guess the 'hue' of Croydon Council.

N V Brooks ● 1458d

I can put it no stronger (although I would like to to so) than "bloody shameful".  There are issues that go back decades which have been ignored and the disgraceful state of much private rented accommodation tarnishes many decent landlords. The problem is that legislation to tackle the private sector will be slow and complex and councils have been too eager to build (or give permission for) the slums of tomorrow while ignoring the slums of today.

N V Brooks ● 1458d