Green councillors call for Hackney’s housing services chief to quit over ‘multiple failures’

Cllr Clayeon McKenzie, cabinet member for housing services. Photograph: Hackney Council

Green Party councillors have called on Hackney’s housing services boss to resign over “multiple failures”.

Cllrs Alastair Binnie-Lubbock and Zoë Garbett claim Cllr Clayeon McKenzie, cabinet member for housing services and resident participation, has “repeatedly failed Hackney’s tenants”.

They are demanding a “revamp” of the department.

At last night’s full council meeting, Binnie-Lubbock said: “We have no choice and it gives us no pleasure to call on the mayor to ask for Cllr McKenzie’s resignation.”

This was prefaced by the Green group’s co-leader sharing experiences from his ward in Hackney Downs.

He highlighted the case of one resident who had “excrement running down the walls of their bedroom”, and “stinking and rotten” carpets that took “weeks” to replace.

“I’ve lost count of the number of residents who have had sleepless nights because they have to get up regularly to empty buckets for weeks on end, and residents with mobility issues trapped because of long waits for lift repairs,” he continued.

“We’ve been raising these issues for years, but the situation is not good enough.”

The call for Cllr McKenzie to step down was in part triggered by Hackney Council’s self-referral to the Housing Ombudsman for “severe maladministration” – a signifier, according to the Greens, that “the council itself has recognised there is a problem”.

All aspects of social housing, including repairs, waiting lists and building maintenance, are under the authority of Cllr McKenzie.

Responding at yesterday’s meeting, Hackney Mayor Caroline Woodley said: “Please! [You’re] asking for the resignation of a proud, working-class, Black cabinet member who really stands up for the residents of Hackney.

“He is constantly on the phone, constantly taking calls.

“What we don’t hear about is all those successful stories of people in desperate need, and when we meet their needs.”

Woodley acknowledged that Hackney’s housing stock is “definitely in need of funding injection, and that is why we are putting housing and homelessness at the top of our priorities”.

The council has come under the spotlight in recent times over the state of housing on some estates.

Residents at Pitcairn House shared a litany of issues earlier this year.

People from Exbury House marched on the Town Hall to protest against conditions there.

More recently, a woman living on the award-winning Kings Crescent Estate spoke out about the problems she has suffered, including a silverfish infestation.

“We don’t call for resignation lightly,” Binnie-Lubbock told the Citizen. “The cabinet member has repeatedly failed Hackney’s tenants, which is why we have called for them to stand down.”

The Greens also asked Mayor Woodley for an “immediate acknowledgement” that housing services are “failing”, and for a “proper strategy to revitalise and save” the department.

They want a return to a committee system which allows “genuine participation” and “shared responsibility amongst all elected councillors”.

They also cited the climate as an “urgent” reason to “reboot housing services”.

“Warm and insulated homes will save residents money on their heating bills, while fulfilling our climate aims,” they said.