Tower Hamlets Labour Group’s priority motion to Full Council is calling for an emergency taskforce and immediate capital investment, as new data reveals a shocking deterioration in the borough’s housing service under Mayor Rahman.
The motion, to be debated on Wednesday 21 January, comes as the Administration’s own reports to the Housing Management Cabinet Sub-Committee this week expose the true scale of the crisis facing tenants and leaseholders.
Labour’s analysis of the Council’s own performance pack reveals:
- Safety Concerns: Tenant satisfaction that their home is “safe” has fallen by 5% in just six months to 63.4%, with women reporting significantly lower feelings of safety than men.
- Fire Safety Backlog: There are currently 2,241 overdue Fire Risk Assessment actions and over 1,200 homes that have not had a domestic electrical inspection in the last five years.
- Service Failure: The Housing Service Centre (call centre) is performing 16% below target, leaving residents unable to report urgent repairs.
- Broken Promises: The Administration’s flagship “Your Voice, Our Action” improvement plan is already failing, with 17 overdue deliverables, including critical safety handovers for new build properties.
Councillor Marc Francis, who is proposing the motion, said:
“Mayor Lutfur Rahman promised that bringing Tower Hamlets Homes in-house would deliver a ‘gold standard’ service. Instead, under his watch, the service has got worse. Labour councillors can see from the complaints we take up that tenants are finding it even harder to get essential repairs done within a reasonable timeframe, while the call centre often fails to answer their calls or respond to emails.
“It is unacceptable that while the Mayor’s Annual Report tries to spin a positive narrative, the real compliance data shows a third of our housing stock is now failing to meet the Government’s Decent Homes Standard. Residents don’t need more glossy brochures; they need dry walls, lifts and boilers that work, windows and doors that are weatherproof and a council that picks up the phone.
“Our motion calls time on the excuses. We are demanding the Mayor immediately release the capital funds sitting in the bank to fix our estates and establishes some proper accountability directly to tenants and leaseholders as well as Opposition councillors so we can all work collaboratively in partnership to drive up the performance and ensure our residents have the homes they deserve and pay for.”
The Labour Group’s Motion calls on the Council to:
- Prioritise the elimination of damp and mould with a dedicated taskforce and targeted investment.
- Co-produce a ‘Repairs Improvement Charter’ with tenants to set guaranteed standards for first-time fixes and communication.
- Force transparency by publishing quarterly performance data benchmarked against other London boroughs.
- Release Housing Revenue Account capital immediately to repair neglected communal areas.
The motion will be debated at the Full Council meeting on Wednesday 21 January 2026.
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
- Data Source: Statistics are drawn from the Public reports pack (14/01/2026) for the Housing Management Cabinet Sub-Committee, specifically the ‘Housing Management Performance and Compliance Report’ and ‘Tenant Satisfaction Measures Q2 2025-26’.
- Decent Homes Discrepancy: The Annual Report summary cites 20.1% non-decent homes. The Compliance Dashboard (Oct 2025) confirms the current figure is 31.48%, having reached a peak of 36.61% in April 2025.
- The Motion: “Opposition Motion for Debate – Housing Repairs” is proposed by Cllr Marc Francis and scheduled for the Ordinary Council Meeting on 21 January 2026.
