Thirteen Housing Group was highlighted as the dominant housing association in Stockton as a review of affordable housing heard evidence from tenants’ union Housing Action Teesside (HAT), and has said it listened and acted on residents’ feedback. The union, which represents hundreds of tenants, is calling for a return to “good old-fashioned council housing under democratic control”. HAT’s chair Tom Zagoria told councillors: “Tenants that we represent who are currently in Thirteen Housing have been sharing their stories.
They feel lied to in lots of cases, they feel ignored, they feel blamed for damp and mould issues which have been provably caused by Thirteen in some cases. “They’ve been trapped for years in homes which are unsuitable for them due to a disability and they’ve been unable to be rehoused because of this housing waiting list. They’re faced with ridiculously long-term schemes for basic repairs which need to be done.
“They sometimes live in homes which are unfit for human habitation,” Mr Zagoria told Stockton Council’s place select committee. “We’ve been representing hundreds of tenants who are in those situations.” He said tenants felt “totally let down” with a system in crisis where each Stockton property attracted more than 100 bids, with almost 2,000 people on the housing waiting list.
He said: “While this waiting list continues to grow, the power in terms of developing new social housing at the moment is primarily with Thir.