Setting the Standard

  • By Alex Sewell

Setting the Standard is a pan-London programme to ensure Bed & Breakfasts and Studio flats used by local authorities for nightly paid temporary accommodation meet a decent level of quality and management standards.

Every year around 3,000 homeless households across London are placed in such emergency temporary accommodation while the local authority seeks to support them into permanent arrangements.

This new shared service will establish a central inspections team, which will ensure that accommodation receives a high-quality inspection on at least an annual basis. Inspections records will be shared between participating authorities to ensure confidence in the quality of accommodation being procured and improve efficiencies. Further inspections will be undertaken if necessary when complaints or follow works are raised.

An unprecedented 31 London boroughs have signed up to the project, making this a truly pan-London mission. It was developed by the London Housing Directors’ Group with the support of London Councils, and is being delivered by the West London Alliance’s Commissioning Alliance programme.

The project has secured a total of £236,000 in grant funding from The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and the Greater London Authority (GLA) to support development.

For enquiries regarding the system and property inspections, please contact Derrick Williams or Carlene Thomas (Joint Acting Head of Housing and STS Inspections Service, West London Alliance) on williamsder@ealing.gov.uk or thomasca@ealing.gov.uk.

Alex Sewell, Special Projects Lead, Housing and Planning