Housing ombudsman for England warns of ‘simmering anger’ over living conditions

Richard Blakeway says 474% increase in complaints to his office in last five years points to risk of social disquiet'

• It feels like there's no communication': a social tenant's struggle for safe housing

The housing ombudsman has warned simmering anger at poor housing conditions" could boil over into social tension as his office recorded a 474% increase in complaints about substandard living conditions since 2019/20.

Richard Blakeway, the housing ombudsman for England, said repairs were now the single biggest driver of complaints his office deals with, accounting for 45% of its workload.