The Housing Enforcers review – death-traps where fire is near-certain

Matt Allwright checks out the infernos-in-waiting among Britain’s run-down housing stock. Plus: paramedics give comfort where they can in Ambulance

In the wake of the Grenfell Tower disaster, the daytime series The Housing Enforcers (BBC1), presented by Matt Allwright, was bumped up to an evening slot last night for a fire-safety special. The programme focused on people working in local housing authorities and environmental health departments who try to ensure such tragedies remain rare, and ran the gamut of potential causes. “Most council tenants keep everything in good order,” said housing officer Ian Watson. “Others … have different lifestyles, shall we say?” One of these was 87-year-old Ally, who though (periodically) charming, lives in the kind of squalor that presents a fire risk to himself and everyone else in his block. Ian arranges another massive clean-up of Ally’s flat, but soon after there is, indeed, a fire. Ally is found on the floor, cuddling his dog, but survives. And denies any of it happened. His granddaughter promises additional support and he avoids eviction.

We see fire safety officers in other areas talk to more receptive owners and tenants about what they can do to make their flats safer, and we see housing inspectors gaze in disbelief at various electrical setups in overcrowded homes owned by landlords happy to trade the risk of death for marginally greater profits. In St Helen’s, Merseyside, we enter one of the 33% of private rental homes that fail the misleadingly genteelly named “decency standards”. There are inaudible fire alarms, no working smoke detectors, and an unchecked gas cooker stands between the tenant and his only exit.

Continue reading... October 06, 2017 at 10:29AM