People living in social housing in Hackney are less happy with their living situation than they were last year, an annual survey has found.
Tenants are unhappy with the general maintenance of their homes and communal areas, but there has been a slight increase in satisfaction regarding how the council handles complaints.
Overall satisfaction among council tenants was 57 per cent in the 2024 to 2025 survey, compared to 59 per cent last year. The survey was carried out between September and November last year, with more than 2,000 respondents.
Alastair Binnie-Lubbock, a Green councillor for Hackney Downs, said this result was “unsurprising”.
“The service has not been up to scratch,” he said.
He also said the council are “looking to make savings in housing in the budget” and that residents are concerned that “this will look like a reduction in service”.
Binnie-Lubbock highlighted damp and mould as particularly concerning issues in social housing, which he said is “really concerning”.
Attitudes to repairs remained the same, despite the council changing contractors this year to try to improve the service.
When asked how they felt about the time taken to complete the most recent repairs, tenants’ satisfaction was down to 57 per cent from 60 per cent last year.
Binnie-Lubbock said he frequently hears from his constituents that repairs are taking “many months” to complete. Inefficiency at updating old and broken lifts has left some people “stranded in their homes”.
Compared to last year, results have shown fewer tenants feel that their landlord keeps them up to date on things that matter and listens to and respects their views.
Only 68 per cent of those surveyed believe that their landlord makes a positive contribution to the neighbourhood, which is down from 69 per cent last year.
Clayeon McKenzie, the cabinet member for housing services, said: “What these figures show us is that despite the challenges that we will be facing in the coming years, we cannot take our foot off the pedal on continually improving the service we provide to our tenants.”
Flora Symington is the beat reporter for Dalston. She is interested in community-focussed stories with people at their heart, and wants to hear from anyone and everyone in this vibrant area. Before moving to London Flora wrote for the Basingstoke Gazette, Cherwell and Trill Mag, as well as presenting and producing podcasts about media and the arts.