Update on Barton House evacuation

National World - LocalTV

Adding to problems is the damning verdict of the Regulator of Social Housing last summer, that the council needed to massively improve safety checks and repairs on its homes. This included shocking findings that thousands of council homes suffered with damp and mould.

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00:00There is no silver bullet for rehousing Barton House tenants suffering trauma from the sudden

00:05evacuation in November 2023, according to the leader of Bristol's City Council. At the

00:11end of this month, tenants should finally be updated on how the council plans to help

00:17them in the longer term. Before local elections last May, the Greens

00:23promised to give residents of Barton House Band 1 priority in the system used to assign

00:30new social housing. Home Choice puts people hoping for a new home into four bands, with

00:36people given less priority often made to wait several years.

00:42The Greens largely took control of Bristol City Council in May, including chairing the

00:47Housing Policy Committee, which is responsible for the Home Choice system. In an interview

00:54with the local democracy reporting service, two leading Greens spoke about their plans

01:00to rebuild trust with council tenants across the city, with a new focus on making sure

01:07homes are safe. Medical experts recently said that the evacuation

01:12was a mass traumatising event. Doctors and psychologists from the Med Act charity urged

01:19the council to prioritise Barton House tenants for rehousing as soon as possible. However,

01:25there is a dire shortage of social housing in Bristol, with over 20,000 households waiting

01:30for a new home. Adding to problems in the damning verdict of the regulation of social

01:36housing last summer, that the council needed to massively improve safety checks and repairs

01:43on its homes.

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