Government ministers are expected to announce a new relief pot for the growing cladding crisis which has become known as a ‘scandal’ in the past few months and left many homeowners bankrupt, unable to sell their property, and emotionally exhausted.
It is expected that the coming announcement will include billions of pounds to go towards addressing the cladding crisis, including covering the cost of removing unsafe cladding, a cost which is currently being shoved onto leaseholders.
Many things remain unknown at this time, including exactly how much money the government is going to pledge, and what percentage of the cladding removal costs leaseholders are still going to be expected to cover.
According to the Guardian, measures under consideration today include ‘a £5bn grant in addition to the existing £1.6bn building safety fund that leaseholders can apply to’.
This current fund has already been widely acknowledged as being far too small to be effective, especially since investigations found that combustible cladding is just one of many fire safety defects in UK highrise buildings. Quoting an industry insider, the Guardian projects that he funding will ‘only cover the replacement of cladding rather than other safety faults’.
It is estimated that around 274,000 flats in the UK have dangerous cladding, which indicates more than 650,000 people are being affected. Each one of them waits patiently for today’s announcement which will be made in parliament on Wednesday by the Housing Minister, Robert Jenrick.
In the meantime, there is outrage in all corners and the government needs to act wisely and decisively.
We will keep you updated with all aspects of this story.
