The government has today announced that it will fully fund the removal and replacement of unsafe cladding by councils and housing associations.
It’s stated that housing associations and local authorities will have access to the money, along with reasonable removal and replacement costs, at an estimated total of £400 million.
Last year, the government offered financial flexibilities to help local authorities with vital fire safety work. However, having had conversations with social sector landlords, the government acknowledged the difficulties they were facing in terms of what to prioritise financially.
In turn, whilst it states that the progress to remove the cladding had so far been effective, it felt it important to provide additional support. Today, it has announced that this in the form of further funding for the social sector which it states will help providers of social housing focus on providing people with safe properties.
Housing Secretary Rt Hon James Brokenshire MP said:
“People must always feel safe in their own home.
“Since the tragic events at Grenfell Tower, we have taken steps to ensure the immediate safety of all high rise buildings.
“This money will ensure local authorities and housing associations are being given the support they need to get this work done now as well as removing the uncertainty around funding.”
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond said:
“We have always been clear that unsafe cladding must be removed from tower blocks so that people are safe in their own homes.
“But we do not want vital safety work to put at risk our high priority house-building programmes. So we have decided to provide funding to ensure that housing associations and councils can carry out this vital work.”
