A major housing association has responded to criticisms that residents felt ignored and trapped in unsuitable homes which were sometimes “unfit for human habitation”.

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 Thirteen Housing Group.

“The only (Stockton) development that I’m aware of which is listed on their website publicly is Westdale in Thornaby. That’s 37 homes for affordable rent, which is nowhere near enough.”

He also referred to 87 households affected by fire safety issues which caused residents to be evacuated from the Dawson House block of flats in Billingham in September. He said: “Thirteen will need to be rehousing the 80-odd tenants who were in Dawson House, and that is putting additional strain on the housing system.”

He argued the current system, “in which social housing is outsourced to several private organisations, the largest one being Thirteen”, was not working for tenants. He added: “That’s not to say anything about specific Thirteen employees, a lot of whom are doing a good job in difficult circumstances. But the current structure doesn’t give either councillors or tenants enough say in what social housing is built and how social housing is maintained.

“A lot of tenants assume Thirteen is more accountable than it is. They think their landlord is the council. If things are going wrong, they’re blaming you.

“If something’s going wrong and it’s the council’s responsibility, we can vote you out. We don’t have that right with Thirteen because, while they’ve got stakeholder management goals, their main objective will be to preserve their business model and their continuity as an organisation. They don’t face the same pressures that you do around the needs of the community.”

One Thirteen tenant in Stockton who attended the meeting, 70-year-old Anne Purchase-Walker, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service it took more than eight years for work to start on damp and mould issues which she believed caused her asthma. She also said she could not get contents insurance “because one of the questions they ask is, ‘Is the property well maintained?'”.

HAT’s report included a picture of black mould which it said was in the home of a Thirteen tenant in Billingham. It said in a 2022 survey of its members in Thirteen social rented housing, 73 per cent of respondents experienced problems getting repairs done, with common problems including damp, mould, broken windows and doors, and broken boilers.

It said: “Tenants experienced impacts on mental and physical health, being unable to use utilities such as showers or washing machines for months, and lost income from waiting in for workmen who never arrived. Fifty seven per cent had been unaware of Thirteen’s complaints process.

“One Housing Action Teesside member and Thirteen tenant in Billingham was left for years in housing with growing problems with black mould, and when Thirteen recognised that her housing was unlivable, the only alternative accommodation that Thirteen offered was inappropriate for her due to her disability.”

David Ripley, executive director of customer services at Thirteen, said in response to the criticisms: “The customer voice is really important to us at Thirteen, and we listen and respond to all feedback about our homes and neighbourhoods that is shared with us by Housing Action Teesside.

“We have acted on previous feedback that we have received from Housing Action Teesside, but as they are not connected to Thirteen, we are unable to share customer details because of data protection regulations.

“We would always encourage our customers to talk to us directly if they are experiencing any issues, so that we can help. We are here to support customers with repairs to their home, as well as any queries about the housing we have available in their local area and how to apply.

“We have an ambitious programme to develop new homes, but we know that there is an extremely high demand for housing in and around Stockton, which is having an impact on all housing providers. As a local authority partner, our team works hard to support with housing need in the Stockton area.

“We continue to support our customers at Dawson House with relocating to alternative housing, but this does not affect the arrangements we have in place with the local authority and our ongoing work across our communities to provide homes people need.”